


Undertopia

by Dagonn



Category: Zootopia (2016)
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe, Bigotry & Prejudice, Drugs, F/M, Hate to Love, Illegal Activities, Life Debt, Romance, Underworld, Whatever my twisted mind may come up with
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-26
Updated: 2017-05-01
Packaged: 2018-09-02 10:32:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 50,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8664331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dagonn/pseuds/Dagonn
Summary: Judy Hoops is the happiest bunny of the world. She managed to get to the police academy of Zootopia and her hard work is starting to show some results. She’s given 3 days off the academy to meet with her family. What she doesn’t know is that the family business is slowly decreasing and that her parents are having trouble paying their loan. When a loan shark appears to collect his money by any means necessary and threaten her family Judy stands for them, ready to fight for their sake. That’s the last thing she remembers before waking up on a crouch in fever.





	1. Making a mistake

**Author's Note:**

> Writing a story about Zootopia is something I wanted to do for a long time so here I am. Also I can’t improve if I don’t practice so… I hope you’ll enjoy my OUR work and leave a lot of feedback. This will help me train my English and force me to do a better job. If you want to throw rocks at me take a ticket and wait your turn. You know what? Nevermind!  
> You may also know that this is my very first fanfiction. I’ve written before but never a fanfic and never in English. 
> 
> /!\ Warning, this fanfic will contain a lot of blood, drugs, lemon… and pretty much everything my twisted mind can come up with so: R-M (and may be upgraded E on AO3). But don’t worry I’m not a monster (I think) so you can expect a happy ending to my story. Okay… here we go! (Slowly reach for a shield)
> 
> Disclaimer: I don’t own any of Zootopia characters (too bad, we would already be working on the next film)

“Okay now listen up cadets!” shouted an artic bear, Major Friedkin, who happened to be the best instructor of the academy.

It was eight o’clock in the morning and all of them were gathered in the parade ground, near the large gate of the academy. “You have three days to relax before coming back to hell, be sure to spend it resting and come back in full shape for the last two months of your training. Those will be the hardest and I wouldn’t be surprised if half of you didn’t make it to the final exam!”

 

Judy could hardly contain herself. She wanted to go back to her home, tell everyone how great she was doing and that she was making huge progress. The first two months of her training where extremely hard as they were meant for biggest, strongest and fastest mammals. When she came home for the first time, she had to hear her parents tell her, for the hundredth time, that there wasn’t a bunny cop before for a good reason: they weren’t meant to be. And she had to admit that she had started to believe it too.

She still stock to her decision and went back to the academy to spend two month more of training.  Through days and days of hard work she was slowly moving to the top for her class as she managed to use her brain to find new ways of dealing with everything she was facing.

She started to get used to the simulations at the academy, doing as fine as any other cadet and even better than some. The last time they went through the ice wall she managed to get first by jumping on all other cadets. This earned her the smile of their instructor as well as some congratulations and a laugh from the cadet she hooped on.

She knew their instructor didn’t mean what she was saying. She just HAD to tell them they were destined to fail to force them to give their very best.

“One final thing,” said the bear. “Those of you who don’t make it back in three days will be considered as dropping off the academy! If there is anything that prevents you from coming back in the meantime, you HAVE to notice us or all of your training will be over. Now dismisses.”

 

 

After saying goodbye to the instructors and talking a bit with the other cadets about what each of them would do during their days off, Judy left for the train station and took the first train to Bunnyburrow, impatient about meeting with her family.

During the trip she remembered the last time she came, two months ago. She was exhausted then; happy that she was at the academy but sad to see that, maybe, she could never compete with the other cadets. This was, of course, before she went through her hellish self-training; sacrificing sleep to study and training her body like nobunny ever did.

Now she was overflowing with pride! She proved everybody at the academy that she could do it; she proved it to herself, too! Two months to go and she would also prove all who badmouthed her or didn’t believe in her that she was right: she could be a cop and WOULD be the first bunny cop of history. She took her Carrotpod out and put her Gazelle’s playlist on as the train went on its way to Bunnyburrow.

 

 

When she arrived she was surprised by not to seeing her parents and two-hundred and eighty siblings waiting for her like two months ago: when she had told them she would be coming home her parents were extremely happy and promised to pick her. But now, all she could see was some of her siblings (Jon, Jack, Jessica and Jill) from the same litter trying to hide their sadness behind fake smiles as they greeted her. A moment passed before one could engage the conversation.

“Hey Jude,” Jon finally said, “mom and dad are sorry but we had an unexpected guest at the burrow and they couldn’t come. They told us to leave the farm and pick you up.”

 “It’s okay,” she answered, “can we head home? I’m exhausted and would like to see this ‘unexpected guest’ and ask him why he couldn’t let me see my parents.” She chuckled with a smile.

All off her siblings looked at her as if she had said something terrible before Jessica broke the silence: “Trust me Judy; even you shouldn’t do that…”

Before she could get the chance to ask what she meant Jack took her bag and moved to the old family pickup. “We don’t have much time guys, we got to get back to the field and help the others. We’ll throw Judy at the burrow on our way.”

Her three other siblings nodded and hopped in the car followed by Judy who started to have more and more questions. The fact that none were answered during their trip to the burrow, and that her siblings tried to tell her that “everything was alright,” didn’t helped.

“It’s okay Jude,” said Jon “Mom and dad are taking care of everything, no need to worry.” But the look on his face never convinced her. Beside, with her training she was able to read between the lines and understand when a situation was desperate, which was pretty close to being now.

When they made it to the burrow Jack spoke again: “Judy, whatever you hear or whatever happens in the burrow, p _lease_ , stay away from our guest,” he looked her eyes as if what he was asking was a matter of death and life. “Promise me right now that you won’t make it harder for all of us,” he added.

Judy looked at him with surprise. Was it this bad? What could have happen when she was away? And why did it sounded as if _she_ would make it worse? Still she accepted and nodded at her ‘elder’ brother, unable to speak.

 

 

Judy headed to her room, the burrow surprisingly empty, as if everyone was sent away urgently. She had hoped she could spend some time with her family but, as she walked to her room, she didn’t cross any bunny. She started to fear she would have to wait for dinner if she wanted to see anyone. After unpacking her bag, she decided to take a walk around the burrow and search someone to talk to; someone who could explain what was going on… She thought she would at least find her younger siblings, but they were nowhere to be found. She muttered something about how nice it was to be given a few days off only to spend them alone in such a huge place and decided to go to the dining room to grab something to eat.

As she closed by, she found the doors locked and could hear talking on the other side of the door. She tried to eavesdrop but the talking stopped right when she was next to the door.

She then heard her father ask: “Is everything okay, Sir?” his voice extremely weak.

Someone she didn’t know answered him with a deep, calm and yet cold voice: “It seems one of your _too many_ kits is right behind the door.”

‘Too many? What with this specist comment?’ She thought just as her mom opened the door, ready to shout at who-ever-was-behind-it… And froze at the sight of Judy.

Her mom went through the door and closed it behind her. She was in a mess, as if she had been crying for the past several hours. Yet she took Judy in her arms in a silent hug neither of them wanted to end at the moment. It was Bonnies Hopps that broke the silence first: “Judy, it’s good to see you. How have you been? Did you unpack your stuff already? Sorry for not picking you up by the way but we have something very important to discuss with our guest here. But don’t worry it’s okay we –” She could have kept going like that for a while if Judy hadn’t stopped her.

“Come on mum, take a breath,” she shyly chuckled, “I’m good, you don’t have to excuse yourself, it seems important.” She was boiling with questions. Why was her mother crying? Who was the other mammal she heard? Where were all of her siblings…?

Just as if she had read her though Bonnie explained: “You’re right Jude, I must look like a mess. But it’s okay; really, all of your siblings are out so we can talk business with our guest. The farm didn’t produce a lot this year and it has been getting harder to repay our debt… But it’s okay you know, we asked most of your siblings to help at the farm.” she smiled.

Judy started to thing she had heard the ‘it’s okay’ part a bit too often and was now sure that _nothing_ was okay. She was now sure they were either saying that to prevent her from poking her snout/nose into this case or they were saying it to convince themselves more than her... She was about to ask for explanations when Stu opened the door. He tried to appear calm and cool but failed as he couldn’t keep his paws from shaking or calm his twitchy nose. This shocked Judy; whoever was behind that door was bad enough to put her parents in a state like that.

“Bonnie please, we still have a lot of things to discuss,” he said in an attempt to sound as if it was nothing, “could you come back please?” He looked at Judy and tried to put a smile on his face: “It’s nice to see you Jude; we’ll talk at diner, promise.”

Bonnie and Stu walked through the door again but before Stu closed the door, he looked at her one last time before adding: “Judy, this might sound odd but please could you refrain yourself from coming near here until we tell you to? This is really important.”

“Okay, dad,” she answered looking one last time at her dad closing the door while dropping his smile, his ears falling behind his head.

 

 

When evening was coming, Judy saw more and more of her siblings come back from the fields. Most of them seemed exhausted: ‘the day must have been long for them,’ she thought. Despite the tiring day they all had, they greeted her as nicely as they could; asked her about the academy, her roommates… Some of them seemed to regain strength while listening to her. They were happy that she could do what she loved.

Of course something had to spoil the good time they were having.  A scream came from inside the burrow. All ears stood up and a swarm of bunnies ran towards the dining room where they could all hear the sound of a solid wooden door being broken. When they managed to get closer they all saw a long… slim… black… _thing? On all fours?_ Heading for the outside of the burrow followed by Stu unable to make a proper sentence and repeating endlessly: “I assure you we… we’ll find a way,” or “It’s not what it seems, listen…”

Bonnie was sitting on the floor of the former dining room, which now looked like a junkyard. She had her head in her paws and was sobbing in the middle of hundreds of broken chairs and tables.

Judy ran to her mother: “what happened here?”

Bonnie looked up and at Judy before putting her head in her paws again as she managed to say: “we don’t k-know what he-he’s capable of. He-he said he would g-get all his money b-back today even if he has to b-burn the burrow for it.” She then resumed her crying.

Judy ears stood up enraged as she dashed after her father and the monster that had made her mother cry. She wasn’t a cop yet, but she would bring justice for her parents.

 

 

As she stepped out of the burrow she could see her father on his knees before the now standing mammal that looked slightly smaller than a Tiger. The said mammal was wearing a long Gothic like hooded Duster coat along with a scarf that effectively hid his identity and specie. Even his paws were covered by gloves…

On any one she would have thought that it looked stupid with the three straps that kept his coat close and the whole ‘Pawtrix’ vibe it gave. But on this particular mammal, it looked somehow fearsome. Maybe it was the way he stood: with both arm outspread of his body which was lightly leaned forward in a stance that let little to imagine: He was using his size to intimidate them.

“Just one more month! We’ll get you the money in a month; we just need to sell some product. We can barely feed ourselves and…”

“Enough!” the simple word made everybunny freeze, ears laying against the back of their heads. It wasn’t shouted nor menacing, but cold and distant and was enough to draw the attention. It was at that moment he decided to reveal his species.

Judy gasped when she was what was hiding beneath the coat he opened. The _animal_ standing in front of them had no fur on his face, in fact, he had black scales. His face was a bit lengthened and rounded at the level of the snout… that he didn’t have but instead wore two curved gaps. His mouth, twisted in a disgusted grimace, revealed some thin razor shaped teeth. A forked tongue darted between them from time to time as he looked at the effect of his revelation had on the bunnies around him… And he was obviously pleased.  A sight like this one was already enough to scare a bunny to death, but his eyes made it far worse: all bloody red with no sight of the Iris in them.

“You can barely feed yourself?” Quoted the giant lizard, “Do you know how long I haven’t eaten myself?” his tone was slowly increasing; “it’s been three days since I’ve had eaten a proper meal… You may understand that someone with my size needs a lot of food and can’t be feed with carrots or blueberries or any _useless prey’s food_ …”

He’s bent down a few inches and spread his arm a little wider, as if he was about to charge, making him look even more dangerous. He was now clearly invading Stu’s personal space. And the proximity of his teeth with his face made the old rabbit shiver.

“In fact, if I came here myself instead of sending someone collect my money,” he was now shouting so loud it hurt Judy’s ears, “is that, if you refused to pay, which you DID, I could still feed myself on your progenitor!” He turned back and walked toward some of Judy’s sibling with madness in his eyes.

But before he could do any harm Stu took something from his pocket, aimed it at the reptile and shoot him. An electrical buzzing sound was made when the Taser prongs embedded to the reptile’s back… Before a strong tail appeared from beneath the coat and sent Stu flying; the sound of breaking bones following; as the black reptile turned back with pure hate on his face.

“You’re DEAD, prey!” he said while lifting Stu by the ears, making him scream in pain while one of his arms hung limp, twisted in an unnatural way.

The giant lizard started to shake Stu as if he was nothing more than a kit in his hand:

“Did you really use a Taser on ME?!” He shouted. “A fox Taser! Wait ‘till my _boss_ hears about this and you can consider your debt doubled! We’ll turn your family into SLAVES or if you’re lucky we’ll just sell you on the black market as FOOD!” 

 

 

Judy couldn’t stand it anymore, she rushed toward the insane predator, jumped and landed a strong kick in his mouth, sending some teeth flying and forcing him to let go of her father. She landed back and retreated a few step away waiting for his response. She was ready to take him on; she had managed to knock out a trained rhino at the academy after all, she could easily beat this monster that seemed to rely on brute force alone.

His response came slowly; he turned carefully to face her and… started to laugh, louder and louder until his full mouth was open as he made the weirdest sound she ever heard. It wasn’t the sound of someone who just lost some teeth… or he really had strange tastes. After a few seconds he started to gasp for air, breathing through his now half shut mouth, keeping a delighted expression.

“I have to say, rabbit, I never thought something like you could exist.” He said still smiling.

He put a knee to the ground and bended slowly so his head would be at the same level as hers. She didn’t know how to react; this male just took her kick really well and even happily laughed about it. Who was he? Why didn’t he look mad at her for what she did when he almost tore her father’s ear offs for using a Taser that barely tickled him?

“Trust me,” he added, “I’ve never see anyone stand against me as you did. And you can believe me when I tell you that I’ve already came across tons of animals and none were near as courageous as you.”

The only thing Judy couldn’t believe was how sincere his words sounded. As if he was happy to finally find someone strong enough to stand against him. Her attention focused on his paws that he slowly raised as if he was surrendering. She looked away from his eyes for a few seconds to look at his… claws? That easily outmatched the sharpness of a tiger’s… And made a big mistake.

 

 

While she was looking at his paws, the reptile spat one of the broken teeth he kept hidden under his tongue in her right eye. The shock was so strong – she never imagined he could do something like this after seeing him so calm and open – that she used both her paws to cover her eye, closing the other one in pain. By doing so, she left her guard wide open and he bit her on the right shoulder.  In the same time he stood and turned on his left side before opening his mouth again, sending the poor rabbit flying several feet away. She crashed into a wall of the burrow with her whole body in pain. All the other bunnies froze in fear, no one daring to move after seeing such a display of savagery.

Judy managed to get back on her feet ready to keep on fighting but she suddenly started to have trouble breathing. She panted as if she went through hours of running at full speed. She looked back at the reptile who didn’t move an inch from the place he was when he threw her. He kept looking around to see if anybunny was stupid enough to stand against him again.

‘How could he play so dirty?’ She thought. Did she underestimate him? Thinking he would rely on brute force only when deep down he was more vicious, colder than the blood that flowed in his veins? By the time those thoughts went through her head she started to lose focus. Her vision became blurry and she couldn’t feel anything from the wound he gave her. The more she tried to breath the harder it became and she started to fell herself lose conscious. The last thing she heard was her mother shouting her name and the sadistic laughter of the most dangerous predator Bunnyburrow had ever seen.

She then felt something poking through the skin of her neck and fell into a dreamless coma.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO! I thought it would have been nice to rewrite small things here and there and ask G4COD to look through this chapter (as well as the next two too). I hope it’s better (hell it should be with his correction).  
> Maybe you’re thinking that a duster coat can’t look good on anyone else than Nero but try to remember that the goal of this lizard’s attire is to hide his species, not to look cool… But I have to admit I love Trench and Duster coat…   
> Now, until next time!


	2. A good way to spend the night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I already posted this chap. On Fanfiction so I won’t copy/pasta the autor note… will I?

Judy slowly awoke to the sound of a voice she never heard:  
“…do that. What we wanted was our money for the month, I know you don’t really want to sell her so why?!” The voice wasn’t angry it could even have been nice to her ears if it wasn’t for the fewer she was in.  
“If we don’t do anything they won’t pay us… You know that right? You’re the one who taught me all this. And it’s been 2 month we can’t keep starving or feeding on blueberries only.” This voice was cold and hard. Judy was sure she already heard it but couldn’t focus; ‘damn fever’ she thought.  
“I don’t mind the blueberries. You know I have a thing for sweetness.” Answered the first voice with a chuckle. “And while you’re right: we have to act if we want to be paid, I’m not sure threatening to eat the whole family was the right thing to do.”  
“Yeah, yeah boss,” this part was said with a lot of irony especially the ‘boss’. “Who are you trying to convince? You look hungrier than me, I even saw you eating a carrot! And you were way to happy to see the 100 Zoollars I managed to get from the rabbits to be mad at me.”  
“I’m not mad,” answered the light voice, “I just don’t see how we can get something out of her… and just getting an S-collar will cost us at least 50. Not to mention that since we can hardly feed ourselves one more mouth is…”  
“Come on! You’re supposed to be the clever one here,” the harsh voice seemed to warm a bit Judy could swear she heard a light laugh. “She can help you with some… work…”  
The other voice grunted lightly. “Let’s not speak about your fantasy here.”  
“Yeah… my fantasy… Anyway, if she can’t be of any use I happen to know how to cook rabbit” the voice seemed threatening as if it was meant to Judy.  
‘But it couldn’t could it?’ she thought. Nobody would want to eat another mammal. It was something only a monster could think about. ‘Monster?’ The though hit her like a cold shower. What happened at the burrow? Who was speaking beside her? And why the voice that said he would ‘cook’ her sounded so familiar?  
She stood up in a hurry, her eyes scanning the room around her. It was pretty dark but she guessed it was only only because the curtains were shut. She has been sleeping on an old couch that was patched up so many times that she couldn’t guess what its original color was.  
Right next to her was a table with different kind of medicine, bottles of alcohol… Even some used syringes? On the opposite wall was the biggest TV Judy ever saw. She tried to move only to be stopped by something strangling her making a chain noise. She touched her neck only to feel the cold steel of a collar around it. Her eyes followed the chain that was attached to it and found it was screwed in the wall. On the next room noises of chairs being pushed could now be heard. 

“Well looks like our bunny is back with us” said a red furred fox. He was wearing a kaki pant and a green Hawaiian’s shirt and a black tie. He had a gentle grin in his face and his eyes were like two emerald. Behind him was standing the giant lizard that was threatening her family. She could see him without his long black coat; he was wearing dark pants and an unbuttoned white shirt whose arm were torn of.  
“About time!” he said “I was starting to worry she’ll never make it…” He seemed calm but after what he did to her she couldn’t trust him even a bit.  
“Nick Wilde” said the fox with a bow and a large smile on his mouth. “It’s a pleasure to meet the bunny that manages to add a little something to the smile of my friend here.” He joked.  
The giant lizard smiled back at him, showing his broken teeth, but didn’t say a word.  
“May I know who you are?” he added.  
She was still shocked by the sight before her eyes that she couldn’t answer. ‘Did he just make fun of a lizard twice his height?’  
“Who are you?” she finally answered.  
The fox, Nick Wilde as he called himself, turned to the reptile with worry in his eyes. “Dagon I hope you didn’t damaged her brain when you throw her at the wall. I already have my hand full of one mentally-ill animal, namely you” he said, pointing a finger at him, “Don’t expect me to take care of another one.”  
Judy couldn’t believe her ears, did he just insulted the giant lizard? Did he have a death wish? This thing way stronger than him! He could have chomped his head in a second with this huge mouth of his.  
Nick turned back at her without waiting for the reptile’s response. “Listen, do you understand me?” he said. “I’m going to ask you a few questions and I want you to answer as fast as you can without thinking too much about it.”  
She shyly nodded, was he really worried about her? She was still so shocked she could only obey for the moment.  
“What’s your name?” he asked  
“Judy”  
“Ok Judy, how old are you?” his voice was calm and she thought she could trust him so she answered.  
“Twenty three”  
“What’s your favorite song?” His world slowly making their way to her brain forcing her to answer.  
“Try everything by Gazelle.” She smiled  
“What’s your favorite color?”  
She gazed at his perfect fur, so clean, so… “Red” she answered shyly.  
He forced her to look at his eyes.  
“Favorite food?” She seemed to lose herself in the deep emerald green of his eyes.  
“Carrots” it was his turn to smile.  
“Color of your underwear?”  
“White”  
“I know…”

 

Nick POV

 

Nick could see Judy realize what he had said. Realize she was half naked and the only thing that was protecting her chest from their eyes was the bandages that covered her injured shoulder, where Dagon bitten her, and the rest of her torso. Of course he didn’t looked where he wasn’t supposed to but the joke was just so tempting he couldn’t refrain himself… And there was no way for her to know he didn’t take a peak.  
“It’s called a hustle sweetheart,” he said with a smirk.  
Dagon laughed so hard nick’s ears hurt. It has been a while since his friend did. Of course he could smile to his joke, laugh a bit, some time he would make one himself, but to laugh so much he had to sit down? Something like that wouldn’t happen more than once a year… and it already had this year. But Nick didn’t take his eyes of Judy, he could see her blush behind her fur and this was something awesome. Something he could get used to see every day.  
They stayed like this a short time until Dagon couldn’t take anymore he stood took his long coat put its hood and scarf on grabbed some of the money they had and left.  
“I need some air Nicky,” he said between 2 hiccups “I’ll be back with some stuff.”  
Nick waited a bit, gazing at the door the reptile went by…’Nicky? He must be really happy.’ He looked at Judy who now was looking at him with disgust in her amethyst eyes.  
“It’s a shame to tarnish those eyes with disgust” he said.  
“Why are you holding me?” was her response. She wasn’t shocked anymore. As if the cold shower she took from the realization they must have seen her chest was enough to wake all her senses up.  
Nick tensed up a little. There was something odd about this bunny, not something unpleasant, but odd. Dagon did mention she faced him without fear. She even broke four of his teeth, not that he minded they would grow back, but it’s not something a small, cute bunny could do. He knew an exception but he was a he and she was clearly a she.  
“Because your family own us a tons of money that they didn’t paid.” He finally answered “and because we must discuss about how you intend to repay us.”  
“My family owns you nothing!” She shouted “I can’t picture my dad working with a fox and even less with a blood thirsty lizard like monster!”  
Nick stood in anger “The lizard has a name!” he shouted back with a snarl “he’s called Dagon and next time you label one of us a blood thirsty you’ll spend a really bad time.”  
He saw Judy took a step back as she faced him, her natural predator, and ready to fight if needed. Fear had almost replaced the anger she had toward him. They both stood, looking each other in the eyes, “the mirrors of the soul” would often say Dagon “never leave your opponent’s eyes or you’ve already lost the fight.” And so Nick stood here holding her gaze for a minute before backing of, fed up to see the disgust in her eyes.  
“An associate of mine lent a lot of money to your parents a long time ago” he sat on a chair near the TV “he knew they would take years and years to pay him back but didn’t care.”  
He dared to look at Judy again to see her still standing, arms crossed, waiting for him to continue.  
“Something like 1 years ago he needed someone to do a certain task… Something big to take care of. Dagon and I took the job and everything went well.” He looked at her and she was still standing.  
“To repay us he gave us the loan your parents had. Everything went quickly: your parents were informed, told where to send money and that was all.” His smiled. “It was great for us you know? Getting some money without having to work for it gave us some time for other… things. At first things went well, we got paid and if sometimes your parents paid us with product of your farm instead of money we didn’t care.”  
“Then why did your friend came to our house and broke everything down?” Judy replied with anger. “Even with a bad harvest I’m sure we could have paid you. We always found a way.”  
As angry as she was, she started to show signs of exhaustion. She had more and more trouble breathing, and even if she tried to hide it, standing was starting to be difficult. Nick smiled; if Dagon was right he wouldn’t have to go through that trial for a longer time.  
“It’s true” he answered “but unlike my old associate I can’t afford to be paid 20 Zoollars each mouths and get a cattle of carrots from time to time.”  
“From what I heard it didn’t bothered you since you ate one” was her cold voiced answer. “So you asked my parents to pays more than they could?”  
“We asked your parents to fulfill their part of the deal” he simply stated, she was now sitting back and hold her head with a pawn. “This meaning one hundred Zoollars each mouth and no more carrots… although blueberries are fine” he added with a smile.  
“One hundred Zoollars?!” she stood in shock only to fall immediately on her knee.  
‘Time’s up’ though Nick. Her constant state of excitation combined with the medicine they gave her was drawling her straight away. She would soon need more medicine, a meal and a good night of sleep.  
He stood and leaned to her. When he bent to help her stand she tried to punch him in the face. Maybe if she wasn’t exhausted, maybe if she wasn’t under medicine way too strong for a bunny, maybe if he hadn’t lived the life he lead, maybe this cute bunny would have touch him. However something like this would only happen in another universe. He stood aside, grabbed her arm and twisted it behind her back and held her on the floor. The chain of the collar was tensed to its maximum, strangling the bunny now under him. He stayed like this a few second before leaning to her ear and whispered as she was fainting from the exhaustion and lack of air.  
“You may see me as a monster but if you had my live you wouldn’t be any better.”  
Letting her go he took her in his arm and put her on the crouch with a blanket on her. He took a syringe and injected its contents in her neck. Maybe this would be the best way for her to spend the night after all.

He sat on a chair waiting for Dagon that soon came through the door carrying 2 bags.  
“Is the antivenom working?” he asked while pawning him a bag.  
Nick took it and looked inside. He saw what Dagon had bought: a shock collar and 2 remotes. He gazed for a moment then said “you know I don’t like this stuff right?”  
“Neither do I” came the response. Dagon took a bottle out of the other bag he had and pawned it to him. I was cheap vodka none of them really liked the taste but it was a good way to have a nice hangover. This seemed to be what the reptile had in mind at this moment.  
“Did you just use more money on this shit instead of buying food?” he said with a snarl.  
“Chill out Nick” he responded “I came cross that weasel who swore he wouldn’t sneak nearby.”  
“Weaselton?” asked Nick.  
“Yeah, I spotted him while buying the collars. He looked quite happy and had a pawnfull of cash on him so I figured he could share.” He stated with a devious smile. “I don’t know what he ate though… when a came through him he didn’t ran away.”  
‘Weaselton not flying when Dagon come at him?’ though Nick. Weaselton was a coward, the only moment he could grow a pair was when he made a nice business.  
“How much did he have on him” he asked.  
“Three hundred Zoollars!” he smirked “I’m sure he had some more hidden elsewhere but this was enough to lighten the night.” He took another bottle of vodka out of the bag with some burger. “Chicken” he said throwing one at him.  
Nick was drawling so much he stopped thinking about the shock collars. He took a bite in his burger a purred when the flavor reached his tongue. ‘How long as it been?’ did he thought ‘something like 2 months… too long.’ Dagon had already finished his tiger sized burger and a quarter of his bottle of vodka when he spoke.  
“You know the funniest thing about the weasel?” He asked. “Of course he couldn’t guess who I was with my hood and scarf on but when I caught him and dragged him out of sight he threatened me.” He started to laugh and took another long drink at his bottle. Nick did the same and waited for him to continue. “He told me that whoever I was I choose the wrong mammal to offence as he had friends that would hunt me down for hurting him”.  
This time Nick laughed too. Nobody would protect Weaselton. He was greed itself, someone like him wasn’t worth protecting as he would ends up selling even his parents for 10 Zoollars ‘Maybe he actually did it’ though Nick smiling before taking another sip of vodka. 

As time passed he found himself gazing at Judy, now peacefully asleep, who didn’t woke up to the noise they made.  
“Though one huh?” said Dagon as he opened another bottle of vodka.  
“She tried to punch me! Even when it was clear she was about to pass out” he chuckled, stood an leaded next to her to put his pawn on her forehead to check if the flue was getting down and it was. “There is something strange about this bunny.”  
“What was it?” his friend had a smug smile on his face “never let them see that they get to you?”  
“Never let ‘em see they that get to you” he repeated “I never said she did.” He added before taking one more sip of vodka.  
“Shot through the heart and you’re to blame” sang the reptile “baby you give love, a bad name.” He then laughed so hard Nick had shut his ears with his paws ‘twice in a day’ he though ‘what’s next? He’s getting married and asks me to organize his bachelor party?’ 

He waited for Dagon to stop laughing, drank again and asked: “You think we can find some clients for her?”  
“That’s your line of work… mine is more brutal” answered Dagon.  
“Yet you happily lend me a paw when you’re asked… it was really awkward the first time.” They both laughed when they remembered. “She could work with you” he added, “You may need someone to do recon for you. She could keep an eye on you when you’re doing a delivery, I’m sure we can find some use for someone her size.”  
Dagon shook his head: “If I need someone to do either of those jobs I would rather have you.”  
“You can’t only rely on me” he took another sip of vodka before adding “You’re the one who brought her here. You’re the one who saw her in action. You’re the one she fears she’ll follow you and do what you want her to.” He took one more sip of vodka before noticing the bottle was half empty Dagon already finished his second bottle. Even with his slow constitution that made getting wasted harder nick knew he already had too much but since it was what he was after…  
His friend noticed his gaze on him and spoke to draw Nick attention on something else that his bottle. “Let’s say I have to clean up a mess… Or force my way out of trouble… Are you sure you want her to see that?”  
“Yeah bad idea” he answered. He noticed that Dagon was now looking at his bottle. His friend had a dangerous craving for alcohol once he started.  
“Ya want to finish mine?” He offered when he started to feel the effect of alcohol too much. They both hated to talk about their jobs but alcohol made it easier and was a good way for each of them to open to the other if something was off. He was the first who talked about work and that meant he had more than enough.  
“Yeah sure” Dagon stood dizzy, walked to take the bottle and went back, falling on his chair more than sitting on ‘good thing they’re so resilient’ though Nick.  
“So… care telling me what’s wrong” Nick asked with a gentle smile.  
Dagon mumbled something about him spoiling his drink before taking another good sip. “I told you I threatened her family. I told them I was going to eat one of them if they didn’t pay us.”  
Nick knew where he was heading but didn’t say anything. His friend needed to tell it himself.  
“I really was about to chomp one of them.” He said after a moment of silence. His eyes where fixed on the floor as if nothing could make him look elsewhere. “If this stupid prey didn’t shot me with his fox Taser I… Well you see where I’m heading…”  
They felt silence. Nick knew a lot about his friend bloodthirst and how he needed to constantly being on the edge of a cliff. How much he needed to feel the adrenaline in his veins. He knew what made him like that and wasn’t far from understanding him as he himself knew this feeling, he just had a better control over it. Moreover it wasn’t his job to blame him, his friend already blamed himself enough to throw himself in two bottles of vodka. Right now is friend needed help, not a lecture.  
“You did nothing wrong” finally said Nick. Of course it WAS wrong but he understood him, knew him and this little lie was what he needed to calm down.  
His friend didn’t reply Nick knew he was already asleep. He slept right after hearing his answer, even if he knew it was a lie. It was enough for him; he spited what he had in his heart and heard a friendly answer, now he could sleep.  
Nick drank the vodka that was left in the bottle, nothing more than a few sips, and sat on the couch switching the TV on to watch to pawnflix but couldn’t focus on what he was watching... After a short time he felt the effect of the alcohol, he turned the TV of and stood to walk to his room… only to stumble on his feed and sit back.  
‘That damn lizard got me here’ he though ‘tomorrow is going to be a mess.’ Sleep caught him while he was cursing his friend for getting him drunk after such a long time. ‘What a bad way to spend the night.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that’s it my friends. I know the end seemed rushed but what kind of “get wasted night” doesn’t end this way? Anyway we learned that Reptile name (Dagon in case you still didn’t get it) and that he was venomous. Nick seems to know a lot about him but hey! He knows everyone in Zootopia right? Remember to leave a review! See you!  
> Woopsie I did it… well only with the end notes so it’s ok... I guess? See ya.


	3. Trying to escape

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the first chapter I put here in the same time as fanfiction.net.  
> Let's see where it got more views ;-)

Judy POV  


Judy hadn’t slept this well for months. To overcome her natural disadvantages at the academy she had to work herself out, train harder than everyone, push her body to its limits. She sacrified some sleep just to study and work out… and once her three days off would be gone she would have to do it again.  
But right now she was enjoying the couch she was on as well as the blanket she had on her. It was soft but also hot… smelly? FURRED?! She shocked awake, eyes wide open as she saw a red furred fox resting on her. Nick’s fur was messy, his mouth slightly open with a drawl and his whole body smelled that he needed a shower… And an aspirin to take care of what would be an epic hangover. The room was still dark ‘how much time did I slept?’ she asked herself as she looked around. The oversized lizard was sleeping on the other side of the room not moving. She even though he was dead until she saw his chest move by an inch as he breathed. She had to get out. She managed to get the fox of her and stood on the couch, a collar still on her neck. She carefully gazed at the two predators whom looked deep asleep and started to search for a weak link in the chain that held her to the wall. She tried to pull the chain twice before realizing it was a lost cause; even a tiger wouldn’t tear those down. She sat back on the couch not hiding her frustration and cursing. Her eyes wandered at the room to find something she could use to break free or even the key to the collar. She started to get close to Nick. “Come one pred. I’m sure you’ve got the keys to unlock me right?” she said while patting his pocket.  


She then felt a chill down her back and froze; DANGER shouted her instinct RUN; HIDE; PLAY DEAD! She slowly turned her gaze to the reptile that wasn’t awake…. until now, both his red eyes fixed on her. He didn’t moved from where he was a few minutes ago still in the same position that he was when sleeping. She didn’t move staring at his eyes not sure what he would do if she moved… Not sure what she would do if HE moved. They stayed like this without breaking eyes contact, his face was emotionless but she felt like she was being studied just with this link between their eyes. After what felt like hours he slowly leaned to take something at his feet, he was slower than a sloth but she couldn’t take her eyes of his: she remember what happened last time she did and wasn’t ready for another fight with the vicious predator. She heard him reach something under his feed… and felt pain as one of his military like boot hit her head at full speed with a “thump” sound. He had thrown it at the speed of light as if him being slow was just a show to make her lower her guard. ‘Of course’ she though ‘vicious reptile’.  
“Keep making so much noise and we’re eating rabbit terrine in hazelnuts.” he threatened her.  
His voice sounded half asleep and now he looked as if waking up was the worst trial he ever when through. He let his tongue slide out of his mouth and mumbled: “damn I can’t even taste a thing.”  
He looked around as if he discovered his surrounding for the first time. After a few second he held his head between the tips of his claws and made an annoyed noise, eyes shut and breathing deeply.  
Judy sat back on the couch at the exact opposite of where Nick was and waited. She observed the reptile in silence for a few minutes. He stopped moving again as if he was again asleep if it wasn’t for his breathing that sounded stronger than before.  
After a long time during which he moved a slowly as possible and gazed at nothing, Judy got bored and finally asked, not to loud so he wouldn’t be mad again: “hangover?” She though a simple world would be enough to start a conversation. Yet he didn’t answered, his head was turned toward the TV and he didn’t moved. Judy felt stupid ‘Of course he would he had two bottle of vodka near him when he woke up and tiger sized one at that!’ yet he could have said something…  
He stood turned his back and simply said “shower” not bothering to close the door behind him. It leaded to a corridor that looked like the one of a hotel or apartment.  
Judy waited a bit to be sure he was off when she heard the sound of water dropping and a grunt of satisfaction. She then resumed search for the key of her collar on Nick before hearing a smug and half asleep voice: “Diner first carrot” followed by a chuckle.  


She felt her ears stood up in a hurry heat running through them while her nose started twitching.  
“Now that’s a cute reaction” said the fox sitting up.  
“Don’t call me cute” she mumbled as she tried to recover from the shock.  
He looked as if he didn’t care and ran a paw to his lower jaw making his mouth work. He looked around the room and stood. His foot bumped against the military boot of his friend and he looked from the chair the said friend was sitting to the place she was.  
“What is that thing doing here?” he asked.  
Judy couldn’t believe how casual he was; the Lizard had beaten her father, almost killed her by biting her, kidnaped her, now they were holding her enchained with a collar pinned at the wall. Yet everything seemed normal to him, as if it was her place, as it always was. There was something praiseworthy in the way he could make this entire thing looks fine.  
Since Nick was still waiting for her answer she waved her paw to where the lizard was: “He said I made too much noise and threw it at me” she massaged her forehead “I guess you could say it was a bullseye.”  
He nodded and she saw him pick the boot to put it on the sit were his friend was. While doing that he moved carefully in order to avoid hitting anything that was lying on the floor. For the first time Judy noticed the room was in a mess. All kind of things were scattered everywhere in the room.  
“Did a hurricane went through the apartment?” she asked. She needed to talk, do something even if it was chitchat before asking them what they truly wanted to do with her. How much time she slept, what they had done to her…  
“Yeah” he answered “hurricane Dagon that’s it.” He chuckled “this guy can’t bring himself to clean anything.”  
The said hurricane came back with just underwear to cover his privacy steam covering all his body. Nick looked at him and moved his lips in silence ending his sentence with a smile. The lizard answered him by moving his paws into signs language and a silence conversation went on. She had plenty of time to study him: everywhere his scales where black but they were bigger on his torso, arms… pretty much everywhere he had muscles; perfectly covering them. Not a single fat could be seen. In fact he wasn’t extremely muscled but well designed, he was made to be efficient not necessarily boosted like a candidate to mister Zootopia… but she had to admit a rabbit with his build would be perfect.  


At the end of their ‘talk’, he grunted and gave Nick a middle finger before moving to the room they were when she awoke… the day before?  
“How much time did I sleep?” she asked in a hurry. She just remembered she had to be back at the academy within three days or she would be ‘expelled’.  
Nick took the remote of the TV and switched it on; the time displayed was 17:00. “You’ve been here for a good 20 hours if that’s what you’re asking carrot.” Before shutting it down.  
“Can we drop the stupid nickname?” she asked frustrated and yet relieved that she still had the time to get out of this mess and make it back to the academy… while finding cops to arrest those two criminal of course.  
“No can” was his answer.  
“Look it’s really depreciative” she said “What if I called you shady? Or your friend cold blooded?”  
“The difference is that now you belong to us; not the reverse.” he coldly replied. This made her froze ‘did he really think that?’ His face was cold and expressionless his green eyes on her as he waited for her response.  
A moment of silence passed before she could finally speak back: “No one own me but myself.”  
“Then tell ‘myself’ that if you’re a good bunny and obey my every command we’ll give you back to her.” He said with a smirk.  
She couldn’t read him! Ten second before he was saying something that made her shiver of fear and now he was laughing! She was taught how to read the comportment of a criminal to decide what the best way to face him was; try to reason him or taking him heads on. But him? He had a perfect control over his emotions. The only change she could see was when he was angry, the pupils of his eyes seemed to narrow to a slit. Or she swear it did because it didn’t lasted longer than a second so she though it was just her. So there was no way for her to guess what he was about to do or how he would react during a chat. And of course no way for her to know if he really meant what he said or if he was joking the entire time.  
“You wait here” he said after sniffing himself “I need to take a shower.”  
“Actually” she answered “I have something a need to ask you.”  
“Can’t it wait?” he asked with a frown.  
“No… I really can’t hold it anymore” she said shyly.  
Her shyness was washed away as the fox looked so troubled his mouth stayed open for 5 seconds before he managed to regain control. He looked away while running a paw behind his head, not looking at her. He was obviously taken off-guard… So some things could get to him. 

Nick POV

Did she really ask him that? ‘Of course she did you idiot’ came his own answer ‘she’s been here for nearly 24 hours what did you expect? Your mouth is still open by the way…’  
He reached for the key to Judy’s collar that was hidden behind the TV. Of course it would be out of her reach, he was amused she though him stupid enough to keep it on him while being so close to her. He knew by experience that it was a bad idea to underestimate a foe just because he was smaller; after all this bunny did kick Dagon’s face…  
He carefully opened the collar and took it of the bunny, waiting for her reaction. She ran a paw on the fur of her neck and looked back at him, her amethyst eyes fixing his as she waited for him to show the way.  
“Follow me” he finally said. Leaving through the door Dagon left open and headed to the shower. Next to it was the toilets and Judy went inside locking the door behind her.  
Nick smiled; she didn’t know he could easily use his claw to pick up the lock. It was something useful he learned over the years and it saved his and Dagon’s live more than once. (His friend was the kind who would run to the door head on even if they were a chance she wasn’t closed.) He smiled at the thought.  
The bunny sure was taking her time… just when he thought that a voice could be heard through the door. “There isn’t paper here…”  
He laughed… loudly, his head arching from the hangover he had manage to hide to the bunny until now. Yet he didn’t care, that was so ridiculous! Dagon had beaten her father, poisoned her with his venom, almost killed her, kidnaped her, chained her and she was here asking to go to the toilets and on top of that complaining because there wasn’t paper.  
“I’ll get you that farm girl” he said still laughing as he went on the storage room on the other side of the corridor.  
But once he was past halfway he heard the faint sound of the door unlocking and slowly opening. Even with his hangover he understood ‘of course there would still be paper… She used this to get me away and try to sneak out.’  
“Listen carrot” he said not turning back “either way you stay were you are and we say it was a joke - ” He turned back to see her dash to the stairs but didn’t rushed after her. He slowly walked before hearing thump against a door.  
“ - Or you can try to run, only to find yourself trapped and force me to punish you for trying to escape.” He said raising his voice so she could hear him beside all the noise she was making.  
He heard her scream at the self-made door they placed here to show they owned the entire floor: “Please help me! They’re holding me here! Call the cops!”  
“Shut up!” was the only reply from downstairs. He then heard her sob as he saw her kneeling before the door pressing against it with her forehead, her paws on her face and ears down.  
“The keys are hanging behind the TV” he simply stated. “You have no friend here cottontail no one has.” She turned herself to face him, tears in her eyes, her ears still behind her head and her nose twitching. “No one wants the blue around here” he added “this place is basically a squat.” She was now standing clenching her teeth in a failed attempt to control her emotions.  
“As for the cops themselves they already know about this place but…” he made the ‘u’ last a bit longer. “Let’s say we pay a rent to someone who has a way to persuade them not to come.”  
The look on her eyes was priceless, her world was tearing apart and this was a delight for him. A bit more and she wouldn’t even dream of escaping anymore. She would be a docile cute little prey-  
‘Stop it!’ shoot a voice in his head. He made a frown, what has he done? It wasn’t like him to act like that. This girl had something that made him want to tame her; to be sure she wouldn’t leave his side.  
Seeing her rush toward him sure surprised him… But it was anger that leaded her. He didn’t know what triggered this but he knew how to deal with it; he rushed forward, to meet her.  
When someanimal was led by his emotions he would become predictable. If it was fear, animals would tend to protect their vitals, like head and torso. Sadness would lead them to self-destruction. And if it was anger; they would aim one vital, mostly the head, with full strength and without caring about keeping their balance or a way to defend themselves from any counter.  
She was scared; this was the reason why she had her forehead on the door when he saw her. Then she was sad; that’s why she turned to face him still crying, accepting whatever had to come. And finally for whatever the reason, she was angered that’s why she was charging him without any consideration for her own safety. Yet, anger was very instable; a great shock could prevent her from acting, leaving all kinds of openings.  


It worked; usually, when someanimal was angry enough to charge someone, the last thing they would think is seeing their target coming at them. She didn’t stop though, but tried instead to punch his face with her right paw. Had she used her feet, he would have been in trouble but that’s why he closed the distance between them himself, so she couldn’t simply jump. He simply grabbed it at midway with both his own and stepped on her left side; he let himself fell, using the force of her charge to prevent him from falling as he turned on himself. He then used all the centrifuges force accumulated to make her quit the ground… and hit the wall now on his left when he let go of her.  
The shock she received shouldn’t have been as bad as the one she received from Dagon but this would still be enough to make her understand she stood no chance… or so he thought, because Judy stood again, anger disappearing this time as she put herself in a battle stance. ‘Something like boxing?’ he smiled. This bunny was trained, even if it wasn’t complete, someone taught her how to manage her anger. She failed before but now Nick knew she would focus, he could see that she was ready to fight her way out… And it somehow irritated him.  
“Come one carrot” he tried “let’s not make something we’ll both regret later.”  
She didn’t answer but lowered her guard. “See? I knew there was no need for us to pull a fight” he said with a smile while approaching her. He saw it in her eyes before she moved; she tried to punch him in the stomach with her left paw, probably to make him bend so she could reach his head with her right foot that, he was somehow sure of it, could knock him down. But once again she lacked training, maybe if she hadn’t, maybe if he didn’t lived with a ‘vicious’ reptile that played ‘dirty’, maybe if he didn’t went through a lot of real fight himself she could have done it. Of course that was still a lot of ‘if’… Maybe in a different universe?  


He simply took a step back, avoiding the punch, lifted his right paw and… slapped her. She took the hit and felt over only to stand again ‘maybe I should have put a little more strength?’ He though. But the bunny didn’t react; she just held her cheek with her paw.  
After a few second he said: “This was for attacking me.”  
She was about to answer when he threw his left paw at her other cheek, slapping her again before leaning close to her: “And this one was for trying to run away.”  
He then smiled, it didn’t matter because he saw the face of an annoyed reptile who was probably leaded here by the noises they were making. He wore a military like pants and a shirt without arms both black and close enough to his body to be hard to grab but not enough to prevent him from moving as he pleased. His friend had a job today.  
“That’s it carrot” he said “our little game comes to an end; we’re disturbing my friend here.” He hoped he made himself clear; he didn’t want to patch Judy up again and he was very likely to do so if she was stupid enough to attack him while Dagon was around. To him a fight only ended when one of the two opponents couldn’t stand.  
He saw her slowly turning around and faces the lizard that held a bag in his paw. “The bag” he though in disgust.  
“Looks like to me that I made it in the nick of time” Dagon smiled.  
“What was that?” asked Nick with a smile “Did you seriously tried to make a joke based on my name?” Dagon grunted with a little smile. “Who are you and what did you do with my lizard?”  
“You’re playing a dangerous game here Wilde.” Nick smiled; ‘Wilde’ was the first layer to his ‘don’t-push-me-to-far’ scale toward him ‘boss’ being the second. He knew he hated when someone called him a lizard, ‘reptiles’ was the only way to describe him that didn’t make him mad.  
He wanted to push him a bit more far to punish him for his joke “Oh come on you deserved it you – “  
Before he could add anything Dagon held him the bag. “Here boss, we have to make sure our little prey doesn’t run away again. She’s making too much noise so early in the night.”  
‘Ok second layer so fast’ he though ‘he’s more pissed off than he looks like, must be the hangover.’  


“Can you get us a second in private?” he asked turning his back at him placing him between the bunny and the reptile.  
“All right carrot, we’ve got to find a way to save you from what he has in mind” he said with a low voice.  
“You know he’s right there” she answered. She had calmed down, he was sure of it but she was still emotionally instable ready to give him back the two slaps he gave her.  
“I know, I know and he won’t move since you tried to hit me.” She didn’t seem sorry. “Just keep your voice low, he has a bad earing and can’t hear whispers but he’s good at extremely good at reading on mouth.” He explained.  
“What do you know about shock collars?” he asked.  
She looked surprised “A what?” she couldn’t be serious could she?  
“A shock collars” he repeated “you really don’t know what it is?” she shook her head.  
“Ok then, history lesson” he sighed. “Shock collars were used something like one hundred and fifty years ago to ‘prevent’ predator to become a treat to prey.” She looked curious.  
“Basically, every predator had to wear one and if they didn’t they would go to jail, if not worst.” She made a frown but didn’t say a thing. Was she really disgusted at the thing even when two predators held her against her will and threatened her family?  
“If a predator felt too much emotion he would get shocked”  
Her eyes were wide open as she understood what that meant. “Any emotions?”  
“Emotions, if we dare to call them so, were calculated after the speed of heartbeats so if you felt anger, your pulse would speed up and you would get shocked.” He stated. “But what happened when you felt in love? Was in a hurry and had to run?”  
“You would get shocked” she answered all look of anger had disappeared from her eyes. Now there was only disgust for what he told her.  
‘God’ he thought ‘She’s just too honest, good thing she never came in this city before, she would have been hustled right after setting a foot on the city.’ He smiled in his head ‘Anyone could manipulate her as long as they made themselves the poor animal being weak and oppressed.’  
He set his thoughts aside to answer her. “Right, but let me tell you this: do you know that when a women give birth her heartbeat increase a whole lot?”  
“No?” was the only answer she could mutter.  
“That’s the thing he wants you to wear” he finally said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I intended to make this chapter a little longer but I saw the “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” so I can’t get my mind to work anymore; the film was so damn good I loved it. And since I try to update my fanfic every 2 days at most… well I have to post today. Anyway… I realized I love to describe the actions of a fight; first was how Dagon beat Judy with a single move now is how nick read Judy to use her own force against her.  
> Moreover it seems Dagon is about to go out to work leaving our two mammal together. He won’t always be here, he may be my OC and I may love reptiles but it’s still a story about Zootopia and Nick/judy.  
> See you in two days at most.


	4. The first shock

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorryyyyy… I was told that my writing needed A LOT of improvement. I didn’t take offence but mayyybe that’s why it took me more time to write this chapter. Annnnd I was sick the last two days… I tried to write but it was a lost fight. I sincerely hope you didn’t wait for nothing and I improved my writing. A huge thanks to Gamer4COD on fanfiction that checked the chapter before I release it to look for any big mistakes (although we both know it's still not perfect...)

Nick POV

 

Nick waited patiently for Judy's answer even though he knew Dagon wouldn't wait a lot longer. Yet nothing came. She looked down, like she didn't know what to say anymore. He had to do something, he couldn't let this poor little thing wear a collar like some kind of… slave.

"Listen carrot. I'm going to give you some orders and you're going to obey like your live depends on it." He put both his pawns on her shoulders. "Because it does, nobody knows what the shock of the collar could do to you. It wasn't designed for prey." He then waited for her response, not letting her go.

She looked at him right in the eyes and pushed his pawns away. She took a deep breath and answered, sadly too loud: "Did you really though the 'bad Mob / good Mob' would work on me?" Anger could be seen in her eyes once again and that pained him because he really tried to protect her.

He felt himself being tossed aside but didn't react. He didn't try to stop Dagon; after hearing what she said, there was no way back. He knew it, his friend, if he dared to call him like that as this moment, would never leave him without being sure he had a solid control over the bunny.

Judy's nose started to twitch in fear as Dagon walked to her. Nick though she would try to run and yet, she didn't. She stood there, anger and sadness mixed in her eyes, her paws clenched into fist.

'She's so brave… Almost stubborn' he thought 'too bad that won't make it easier for her.'

 

She didn't move when Dagon caught her with one paw, held her in mid-air and put the collar around her neck. He putted her down, a remote in his paw and waited.

So did Nick. An uneased silence felt on the three of them. They all waited for something but, Nick was sure of it, none knew what. But something HAD to happen or one of them would have a heart attack from the stress building up.

He started to have cold sweat and his eyes switched from Dagon to Judy. Dagon was standing still, not moving an inch, he had one leg a bit behind the other and both his arms were slightly up. In this position he could hit her with his tail, dash toward her, avoid or counter any attack… He was ready to fight.

Judy had a somehow similar stance. Her paws were proportionally a little higher than his. She could try to run away of try to protect herself if he attacked. Both her ears were up from the stress and her nose was twitching now so fast Nick thought it could have felt. She was in a defensive stance; she must have known she didn't stand a chance.

After what felt like eternity Judy pulled her paws to the collar and tried to take it off, pulling on it and stretching her head at the opposite of her paws. Everything went fast. The security of the shock collar activated and Judy bended in a scream that lasted until she fell and struggled on the floor.

If the little moment of silence that preceded her reaction had felt like years, the five little seconds during whom the collar activated were much worse to handle. Nick had to fight with all his might not to rush to the side of Judy and unlock the collar himself. Instead of that he bitted his tongue and clenched his paws.

 

Once it had ended Dagon slowly turned toward him. Judy was still laying on the ground both paws on her throat, crying.

"No emotions control device," he simply said "just security and manual shock remote if needed." He could have seemed unfazed if it wasn't for his left pawn dripping blood. He handled him the remote he held. "I've set it so if she is away from more than sixteen feet away from any remote, she gets shocked." Nick took the remote and nodded.

Dagon walked to his own apartment, the one in front of their 'TV/dining room'. Nick put the remote in his pocket and headed to Judy who was now sobbing, curved in a ball of grey fur. He felt bad for her and mad at himself. He knew what would happen and right before that he had beaten her up. Of course he only protected himself but if he hadn't provoked her then maybe she would have been more obedient.

He put a knee to the ground and lifted her in his arms. Her fur was soft in his paw and she smelled nice… something like earth and flowers. He tossed the thoughts away, disgusted that he could think of something like that after what they put her through.

She let him do but stopped crying. She didn't make a sound nor did she move when he carried her back to the couch she had spent the twenty previous hours. When he let go of her she sat down and looked at her feet. Nick bended to examine her; he extended his paw to check if the collar had burned her fur. When he touched it she jumped away with a little weep. For a short moment there eyes crossed and Nick froze.

There weren't any defiance in her eyes, nor anger; she didn't look mad either. Instead she looked resigned, as if she had given up. As if something inside her was broken. She was now shivering of fear and didn't dare to move. She had her leg pressed against her body, ears down and paws over her head, trying to protect herself from whatever she thought he was trying to do.

Dagon appeared through the door to take his coat. He put it on as well as the hood and scarfs, leaving only his red eyes uncovered. "I'm off and shouldn't be here before tomorrow" he simply said before leaving without looking at them.

 

Nick nodded to himself and focused back at the bunny who was shacking even stronger than before. 'I have to find a way to cheer her up' he thought to himself 'Or at least ease the pain she must be in…'

_Yeah 'cause it's not like it's because of you she's like that…_

He casted his thought away took his phone out of his pocket and sat back at the edge of the couch dialing a number. He waited a bit before some mammal picked up.

"Good evening sir" came the voice from the other side of the phone "what can I get you today?"

"Wilde speaking…" he waited for the effect of his name to kick in. When he heard a faint 'huuuu' he felt satisfied and went on: "I'd to order two large vegetarian pizzas, one with extra carrots and a couple of beers." He glanced at Judy who, even if she had stopped shaking, still looked down. "Actually make it ten beers and put it on Dagon's tab. You know where to find me…" He hung up while smiling at himself; Dagon would probably be mad that he made him pay for veggie pizza but that's why he did it, it would be funnier this way. And the reptile could stand a little teasing.

 

He put his phone back in his pocket and started cleaning the low table in the middle of the room. He took care to throw away every empty bottle or medicine while keeping anything that could still be used; painkiller, disinfectant, bandages… He even kept the two syringes that had contain antivenom laying here after carefully removing the needles and tossed it into a plastic bag among the rest of the trash. By the time he had finished cleaning the place where they would eat Judy was still sitting on the couch.

She held her legs against her chest with her paws and her eyes fixed the floor. Yet this time her ears were standing up. He interpreted it as a good sign since most, if not all, mammals tended to hold their ears down when they were sad, scared… Her ears being straight meant she was either back to her normal self. His chest felt lighter, he wouldn't have to spend the night with a depressed bunny if he played well.

A bell could be heard from the stairs Nick stood and didn't bother to tell Judy to stay where she was since she was apparently still too shocked to move. 'Yeah nice, shocked' he thought feeling bad at himself. He reached the door and saw a Pig holding two pizzas and a pack of beer. The pig gave him his order and left as fast as he could, not wanting to stay near the only mammal who could tame the reptile lurking around here. 'If only they knew' he thought smiling to himself.

If Dagon was trying to hide his species when he was working, only showing it to intimidate someanimal, he always made a point of showing himself around their squat and address Nick as "boss". The other squatters, as many of Nicks and Dagon's employer, all though the fox had a secret way to control the reptile. That he was stronger that he looked.

None of them knew the true: Dagon thought he had a life debt to him and so, stuck with him. He was the one who suggested making Nick into his "boss", arguing it would make him look "bigger". He was right thought; very few were the fools who tried to mess with him. And in the worst case scenario? He knew how to fight and would give some mammal a good beating. Or he would simply let Dagon handle it.

He shook his head, took the food and headed back to Judy. On his way he took one of his shirt inside the first apartment of the floor (witch he used as his own) to give it to the poor bunny who was still half naked.

When he entered the room he found her standing in front of the window. She had removed the curtain and was looking at the city beneath them. He put the pizzas on the table and threw his shirt on top of Judy's head. He then opened the back of bear and took two out, opened them and passed one to Judy. She had put his shirt on and slowly turned, reaching for the bottle with her paw.

"Where are we?"

 

Judy POV

 

The moment she pulled on the collar her world had turned white. The pain from the shock was too much for the fragile body of a bunny (even if she would never admit it). She felt like ants were running beneath her skin, she felt cold and hot on the same time. Her eyes rolled back and she fell. She screamed. Then it ended. She put her paws around her neck. Her throat burned and she felt like throwing up. Tears build up, was it supposed to hurt this much, she started crying. Beyond her sobbing she could hear a voice.

"No emotions control device," it said, "just security and manual shock remote if needed." After a short silence the voice said: "I've set it so if she is away from more than sixteen feet away from both remotes, she gets shocked."

'So I'm doomed right?' she thought. She could never run away from them as long as they had these remotes and could shock her if she tried to steal it from one of them.

She felt a mammal, 'please let it be a mammal' she hoped, close to her. She stopped crying and froze as the feeling of furry arms around her and the smell of musk calmed her a bit. She let herself be carried away. When he let go of her she sat not daring to look at him. How did he look? Disappointed? Furious? Sad?

'Why would he be sad?' She thought, 'He's just a fox, and he's partly of responsible.'

He tried to protect you, twice.

'He slapped me,' she answered to herself.

_You tried to do far worse to him…_

'After those things he said about cops? You bet I did!' She couldn't believe she was arguing with herself.

_He lives here, not you. Corrupted cops… it's not unheard of._

She felt something against her neck. Shock! Pain! DEATH! Screamed her instincts. She jumped back and curled herself into a ball praying to all the gods she knew that the pain would be quick. While doing so she crossed her eyes with Nick's. His mask seemed so slip for a second as he looked surprised and sad at the same time. He had his paw extended where her neck was a few seconds before. She didn't feel pain. Had he just touched her to see how she was doing? He didn't looked like he was about to harm her.

A noise came from behind. Footsteps and something sliding on the floor, a huge tail she realized when she heard the reptile's voice. "I'm off and shouldn't be here before tomorrow." She heard the footsteps carry him away and a silence fell on the room. His presence had a bad effect on her. She started to shake at the memory of him standing on top of her while she was shocked by the collar HE had put on her. His red eyes showed no emotions nor his whole body. Only his paws were clenched into fists as he looked at her. She was sure such a sight would haunt her sleep every night starting now.

 

"Wilde speaking…" she heard the fox near her. His voice seemed to calm her once again and she stopped shaking.

"I'd to order two large vegetarian pizzas; one with extra carrots and a couple of beers... - Actually make it ten beers and put it on Dagon's tab. - You know where to find me…" She had felt his gaze on her but didn't have to courage to look back. She watched him clean the table in front of them, carefully handling the medicine he could still use and throwing away the rest. She even saw him take two used syringes.

He seemed like a normal mammal; him cleaning the room made it looks like everything was normal… Despite the fact she had almost been shocked to death. But still; no reptile in sight, Nick had his back turned to her, all defenses down… There was nothing to fear here. She held her legs to her chest to heat herself and looked at him. The more she looked the calmer she felt. She liked the way his tail moved. There was something hypnotic in the way it waved from right to left, always matching his movement to keep his balance.

He did the whole task without looking at her but when he finished and turned his head toward her she fixed the floor with her eyes, afraid of what he would think if he had caught her staring at him. She heard the sound of a bell and watched him walk calmly out of the room.

Once the sound of his footsteps carried him away she stood and headed to the window. She hoped he wouldn't be mad at her for leaving the couch but her curiosity got the best of her. She opened the curtain and gazed at what was outside.

Everything was pretty dark even if it was supposed to be around 17:00. She then noticed she couldn't see the sky. The only sources of light were artificial and extremely low. She could barely see the other buildings and the street far beneath her. She found herself gazing through the window for a few moments. Not knowing what to do with such a discovery. She had no idea of where she was.

She heard a noise behind her and a soft fabric felt on her head. She took it and found out it was a shirt. She turned back and saw Nick put food and drinks on the table he had cleaned. When he turned at her, she had put the shirt on and looked outside again. She heard him getting close and shyly took the bottle he passed her.

She turned to the window again and asked: "Where are we?"

"Welcome to the night district of Zootopia," he said with a smile. "Also called Undertopia. Because, you know… it's under the rest of the city. It's the district made for the mammals that can't fit in Zootopia because they're way too nocturnal."

She was shocked to be in Zootopia. Of course she knew this district since she had studied at the academy but never went here. She found it really looked like the description she had been told. A dark place where no matter the hight of the roof one could only feel claustrophobia. She didn't dare to stop him from his explanation. He went back to the couch and sat on it then took a few sips to his bottle. "This is the perfect place for buying and selling illegal stuff, drugs, whores, guns, information, protection, hustlers… You name it. If it's illegal then it survive and thrives down here."

 

She couldn't believe her ears, he sounded proud of it! Or at least it didn't seem to bother him since she couldn't read through his mask.

He tapped his paw on the couch near him while smiling. She understood and walked through the room to sit next to him. "Since we're here until Dagon comes back," she shivered at his name, "if you have any question I'll answer them."

She still had trouble looking at him but forced her to as she asked: "What are you planning to do with me?"

"Well as you may have seen, the place is kind of a mess and I'm bored to live with Dagon so I thought 'hey why not look for another roommate?" he answered with a smile "a cute one this time!"

The C word made her frown: "I don't know if you're aware but – "

"Bunny don't like to be called cute because it specist right?" he cut her off. "Look Carrots," he extended his paw and took a slice of veggie pizza "You're in Zootopia here, the true Zootopia. You can work as hard as you can, you can yell as loud as you want and try to deny it as many time as you want but you are what you are." He took another sip of beer. "You asked me earlier what I would say if you called me shady." He paused and looked her right in the eyes; she found it hard to hold his gaze. "I would say you're right. No matter how hard you struggle this city always crushes your dreams."

"It sounds like to me you know what you're talking about…" she replied gazing at the untouched bottle in her paws. Of course she knew what he meant. Since she had stated chasing her dream to become a cop she had always being reminded her chances were none. When she started at the academy she almost gave up after the first two mouths. But she held up, she fought so she could reach her dream. Nick on the other paw seemed to accept his fate and let it decide for him who he would be.

Her only answer was a light slap behind her ears and a grin from him as he leaned close to her. His snout was only an inch away from hers as he answered: "Carrots, if you want to know me better and dwell in my past you'll have to get me drunk." His smile became wider "And I never drink alone, half of this pack of beer is yours."

She looked back at him with surprise and a bit of fear. She had never drank so many beers; and of course not this size. Moreover she hadn't drunk a single drop of alcohol in the last four months, not wanting the alcohol to lower her chances to make it out of the academy with the little golden badge.

She took a slice of pizza and ate it under Nick's gaze. When it became obvious he wouldn't stop nor talk until she started to drink she took a sip. The cool beer had a nice effect on her damaged throat she gulped some more, of course, one leading to another she emptied the bottle after a short time.

Nick took another bottle and passed it to her. 'Is he trying to get me drunk?' she thought

_What's the matter?_

'I don't know… I'm not sure I want to get drunk near him' she answered to her already less sober self.

_But it feels sooo goooood and if it's what it takes to make him talk._

She took another sip and looked at his emerald eyes locking her own in it. The alcohol surely made things easier. She recalled how he had avoided her previous question and decided to ask again: "Care to seriously tell me what you want from me?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And this is it! I know it seems I made half a chapter to tell the same things but I felt it would be good to have both Nicks and Judy’s POV here. Don’t worry though I won’t do it often. I’ll try to update the next chapters more often now that I’m back in a good shape. (It’s not like 4 days of waiting put you through hell but since I promised every 2 days…) See you !


	5. Finding a Job

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is chap. 5. It's a bit bigger than all the previous so I hope it make it for the wait. Enjoy!

 

Nick POV

 

“Care to seriously tell me what you want from me?" asked Judy after taking another sip of beer.

Nick grunted. He hadn’t drunk enough to answer her question. He couldn’t find a proper job for the little bunny.

Working with Dagon would obviously be impossible considering how he had treated her.  Not that he meant to traumatize her but sometime he was just too extreme… And he really went far this time.

He couldn’t let her stay and do the chores at their apartment. First it would be useless since Dagon and him didn’t spent much time inside it. Secondly this would mean one of them had to stay and keep an eye on her. ‘And keep a remote close to her or we would find a fried rabbit when we got back from work…’ He thought.

She couldn’t do any ‘delivery’ jobs for the same reasons. ‘This collar narrows our solutions a lot,’ he frowned to himself. Prostitution? He knew some middle sized mammals who would really be happy to spend some time with a poor and defenseless bunny… He growled now. As if he would let anyone have their way with _his_ bunny.

‘My bunny?’ he asked himself. ‘Since when did I start seeing her as my property?’

_Well she IS yours; nobody would say anything about how you treat what belongs to you…_

‘After what I’ve been through myself? No way!’ He answered his own thoughts.

_Pussy…_

“Earth to Nick? Do you copy Mister Wilde?” asked Judy as she waved her paw in front of his eyes.

Paw? “Pawpsicles!” He shouted as he stood. He drank his beer in one go before looking back to Judy. She had jumped back and couldn’t hide how much he surprised her with his sudden behavior. He grabbed her by the shoulders and locked eyes with her. “Carrots, you’re going to help me with an old business of mine.” He smiled as her nose started twitching. Seeing how she didn’t reply he added: “It’s easy. You know one funny thing about size the difference between mammals is that an elephant’s size ice cream is roughly the same price as a smaller mammals.”

She nodded but didn’t spoke. “So here’s what we did. We bought a big ice cream, melt it, go to Tundratown and freeze it back into small sickles.” He stoped as she gave him a weird look. “I’ll tell you how once we start to work on it.” He added before going back on his explanations: “Then we only had to sell it to a very low price to lots of small mammal. Nobody could pass on such a good offer.”

“You have the license for that?” Judy asked suspiciously.

“Of course I do.” He grinned “I have this good friend who can get me any license I want. And since we only sell the pawsicle for cash, no way to _tail_ us if something goes wrong.” He smiled and waved his own tail.

“But that’s illegal!” She looked disturbed… as if it was impossible for her to imagine such a thing.

“Carrots, you’re starting to scare me.” He raised an eyebrow, “I told you, we’re in Undertopia, there is no law here. No one care if it’s illegal.”

“But…” She tried to answer before he put a finger on her lips. She gasped backing off a little to cut the contact. He leaned forward and once more, his face was just a few inch away from hers. His emerald eyes fixing her as if they saw through her soul.

“One more _butt_ Carrots.” He put his finger under her chin, his claw touching her flesh through the fur. “And yours is going to be wrapped in less cloth than those bandages and you’ll help me for another job.” He showed her a toothy grin as her ears turned deep pink.

 

Nick was happy the collar didn’t have an emotion control device or the bunny before him would already have been shocked. He could hear her heartbeats so loudly he thought she might have an attack. She finally managed to open her mouth as she let a faint: “huuuu.”

He couldn’t hold himself anymore: “Okay that was super cute, Carrots. Mind doing it again?”

The C world immediately cooled her down, as expected. Still the threat worked and he was sure she wouldn’t dare argue with his decision. She sat there, not moving his finger still under her chin as she spoke again: “You wouldn’t?” The question was made with the same faith voice and he could detect a bit of fear in her voice.

“Then don’t tempt me.” Was his response as he let go of her and took another bottle of beer. He took a few sips and finally sat back on the couch. “I used to do this hustle not so long ago.” He couldn’t hold a smile as he remembered. “I came up with the idea and an old friend of mine tagged along.” He sighed “We used to make 200 Zoollars a day Carrot! When now Dagon and I are happy when we have this much at the end of the week.”

“What made you stop?” asked Judy to his surprise. “I-I mean if you earned so much why stop?”

“It wasn’t enough. I wanted more and so did my old pal…” He started to feel sad now that he remembered this part of his live. “One day, we were making our pawpsicles when a polar bear came to us. He was wearing a jacket and a black tie. He didn’t speak at first, he just looked at us.” He took another sip of beer and saw Judy do the same, a bit faster than him.

“Then my pal got pissed at him and asked what he was doing.” Nick smiled; he always had the luck to find friends that would get them into trouble. “The bear told use some important mammal wanted to see us… And we were urged into a black limousine where three polar bears and their boss where sitting.” He paused and waited; Judy took a slice of pizza and gulped her second bottle down.

He gave her a third and drank a bit more. “There, we were told they had an eye on us… How we worked and such… We never noticed we were watched. I have to admit I feared for my hide there but he smiled and told us he would like to employ us.” 

He guzzled the rest of his bottle and opened another. “I’ll skip the part where we made a lot of money while working for him to jump to the point when I did something to really piss him off.”

He started to feel really bad but still managed a grin to hide his emotions. “And let’s say, when you piss off a mammal as _big_ as him, you have to pay the price… No more pawpsicles hustle for the past eighteen months for me.”

“What did you do to him?” she asked shyly, a serious look of concern in her amethyst eyes.

“That’s something I would rather not tell yet, Carrots.” He saw she was about to ask another question but he cut off. “And I don’t plan to tell you how he punished me… Even Dagon wouldn’t drag the answer out of me.”

“And yet he knows right?” Nick’s eyes shot wide open when he figured the little bunny had read him so easily. She downed half of her bottle in a single go before taking another slice of extra carrot pizza. She didn’t say a world and waited for him to answer.

“I hope he does,” he finally said, “it’s part of HIS story as well.” He felt lighter as he remembered his friend. The scaled bastard was the only one he could rely on now…

“Can you tell it to me then?” She was lightly shaking, as she downed the rest of her bottle. Alcohol made it easier for her to speak, but didn’t removed the fear she had of him.  

“He probably wouldn’t like me to…” he sighed. “Not that I know it all anyway…”

He saw Judy was about to ask another question but a phone ringed. The harsh sound came from behind the TV, where Dagon and him always put it, near their keys so they wouldn’t forget it when leaving the apartment. It has been a while since this phone rang, it usually meant Dagon or him would have a job.

 

Judy POV

 

Nick and her were stopped in their discussion when a phone rang behind the TV. ‘What else do they keep hidden here?’ she asked herself, remembering they put their keys there. She saw him pick up an old portable phone still attached to its charger.

“Wilde here.” He said with a professional tone. “State your needs and give me a price.” Thanks to her rabbit’s ears, Judy heard a female voice answer him but didn’t get what she said. “I’m deeply sorry milady but tonight may be a bad one. I’m having some important guest that I can’t leave alone.” She heard the voice answer with an annoyed tone. “I’m afraid Dagon is already working, he said he wouldn’t be there before tomorrow.” She saw Nick take a few peeks at her.

Nick nodded to himself while the female voice talked. “Maybe I can come but I’m bringing a mammal with me and I’ll ask an extra.” He said calmly then felt silence again. “Yes, a she.” He waited a bid before answering with a frown. “No, she’s not a _night client_ …”

‘Night client? What is that?’ she asked herself.

_Are you sure you want to know after the ‘other job you could help him with’ part?_

‘I’m not drunk enough to have this kind of conversation with myself!’ She told her less sober part.

_Sure you are, it’s your third beer and we don’t plan on stopping here right?_

‘I’m far from being wasted’ she praised herself… Even if it sounded really strange to say it to herself.

_Wait for what you gulped to kick in… Maybe you’ll become his client._

‘That’s it I’ll stop drinking right now!’ She thought to herself, ‘And I can’t consider doing something with one of my kidnappers – especially not a fox – without being drunk!’

At this moment Nick turned around and looked at her for a moment before speaking to the phone one last time “Alright we’re on our way.” And hung the phone.

“Get ready Carrots,” he said before scratching the back of his head. “Yeah, you don’t have anything to wear so getting ready is a bit…” He put the phone in his pocket and took a dark jacket that was hanging on the wall.

He waved a paw to make her follow and they went through the corridor.

“Remember Carrots,” he said while opening the door of the floor, “stick close to me, and follow my commands… I really don’t want to shock you.”

She made a frown but didn’t say anything. She knew it was useless to try anything right now. She would just have to be the good little prey he thought she was until he let his guard down. ‘And then we’ll see who gets shocked.’

 

They were now outside the building on a stair that seemed to turn _around_ the building. They walked down and the more they did, the bigger the building was. “It’s like a Pyramid.” Explained Nick. “This building, like many others, goes from the bottom of Undertopia to its very top. It holds the roof which happens to be Zootopia’s ground and prevent it from falling on us. That’s the reason they never destroyed it.”

He then went silence as he walked down the stairs, both paws in his pockets. He matched her speed with his, never giving her his back. She swore she could have seen a smile on his face each time she tried to move slower or stopped to ‘look at the city’ so she could get behind him.

After a short time they finally made it to the ground. There, faint lights were hanging at each building’s corner. “Why are there light if most of the mammals that live here are either nocturnal or underground ones?” She asked.

“We still need a bit of light to see,” he simply answered. He then walked down the street and wandered into a dark alley.

The smell was horrible and Judy finally wondered how the fox, with his sensitive nose, could bear it. She snorted and he immediately turned. “Breathe through the nose Carrots, you’ll eventually grow accustomed to this smell.” It was his turn to frown, which told her he himself wasn’t unfazed by the smell.

As they walked a bit more they came across another big street, this one more frequented than his apartment’s. All sort of mammal were walking in the street, not only nocturnal or underground ones. Most of them were predators of all sizes and shapes. She had stopped to look at the crowd when she felt a paw pushing on her back. “Come on Carrots, we’re going to be late.” Nick’s voice wasn’t as sweet as it was in the apartment. She had noticed the more they walked, the more his mood seemed to darken. He was now giving orders and she knew she had to follow.

Yet she wasn’t willing to let herself drag into trouble without knowing what was ahead: “Where are we going?”

He didn’t looked at her and put his jacket’s hood on his head. “First rule about our job Carrots, we don’t speak about it when we’re on the street. You don’t want any mammal to eavesdrop.”

She looked around her, expecting to see someone stare at them or something. Yet no mammal could be described as ‘eavesdropping’. Each of them seemed to mind their own business. “I don’t think anyone is listening to us…” She said as she looked back at him.

“Oh yeah?” He smirked and stopped where he was. “See the panther here?” he pointed at a black panther that was sitting at nearby a café shouting at his phone. “Can you hear what he’s saying?” he asked. 

Was he serious? Of course she could, her ears weren’t for show, she concentrated on him… and started to regret doing it. He was threatening to kill someone, probably a coworker if he didn’t get something really fast.

She looked back at Nick that wore a wide smile: “Tell me, did he notice you?” It was obvious he heard him too.

“I don’t think so…” she answered, unsure of his point.

“Do you think you could notice if someone was listening to our conversation?” he asked as he stopped to smile.

“No…” Was all she could answer. Nick didn’t care to respond and walked into another small alley. She followed a bit fed up with his cocky attitude but didn’t dare to say a word about it. He took another dark alley. Once they were on the other side she saw many small sized mammals on this street. Nick stopped in front of a little shop that sold all kinds of clothes for small to medium sized mammals and went inside. The sight was almost laughable as he had to lean a bit to prevent his head from hitting the roof.

Judy saw a tiny vixen come at Nick: “I’m sorry mister I’m afraid we don’t have –“ She stopped talking when he turned to face. She extended her arms and revealed two black leathery wings. ‘A bat,’ thought Judy ‘a flying fox’ she added to herself.

“Mr. Wilde? I-I really wasn’t expecting you.” She tried to smile but Judy didn’t buy it, nor was Nick, his presence somehow made the bat very uncomfortable.

“I am here to ask you to pay your debt.” He simply said. But Judy felt extremely bad; it remembered her of her parents. “Give me some clothes for this girl here and we’ll be even.”

The bat looked at her and sadly smiled at her with compassion in her eyes. Judy put a hand to the collar she had around her neck… The smaller mammal was clearly staring at it.

Nick slightly snarled and the bat jumped back of fear before heading to the shop’s back, leaving them alone. She came back in less than a minute. She had many kind of clothes, many to short or too tall for a bunny, it seems she wasn’t the regular customer here. Nick didn’t waste time; he took a bag a shoved all the cloths inside. Without adding anything he headed to the door before stopping. He glared at a brown sweatshirt it wasn’t particularly good looking but he took it and threw it at her. “Put the hood on so people don’t notice your collar.” He turned around, his mood seemed to worsen.

 They left the shop without talking to the owner and walked for a while before Nick turned to an alley that was surprisingly clean. They stopped before a middle sized mammal’s door that couldn’t be seen from the main street. Nick put both his paws on her shoulder and forced her to lock her eyes in his. She felt more pressure in his grip. “From now on _Bunny_ , you’ll do exactly what I tell you to do and won’t speak unless I allow you too. Is that clear?” His face was dead serious and didn’t let anything through. She saw him slide his paw to his pocket and show the remote he had on him. He put it back in his pocket and repeated: “Is that clear?”

Now she was frightened. She had hoped he wouldn’t be tempted to use the shock collar but it was clear that _whatever was behind that door_ was important enough for him to shock her if things went bad. She finally managed to nod, unable to talk.

“And take the hood off,” he said before knocking on the door, “so these mammals know you belongs to me and aren’t a threat.”

“Wha–“ she tried  before his paw removed the hood for her as the door opened on a fully grinning hyena.

“Nicky! How nice of you to bring the appetizer!” The predator laughed.

 

Dagon POV

 

Dagon left the building and headed straight to the first dark alley he found. He hated the wide street, too many animals, too many eyes to stare at him, even if he was hiding his species under many layers of cloths… Most likely they were staring _because_ he was hiding it but it was always better than let everyone know one of the deadliest, and most unheard, predators of Zootopia walked freely around them.

The narrow alley made him feel safer, his slender body moving through them in silence. He knew each of them. There were no corners he hadn’t noted, nor hiding spot he didn’t know; if the need arose, he could disappear without anyone noticing him… Except for a certain fox. The scales-less animal was the one who taught him his way around the streets.

He had to leave Nick at their squat with the bunny. He smiled when he remembered her; not only did she tried to fight him but she also had a fight with Nick… even if it was kind of one sided. Too bad he had to put the shock collar on her but she had to be controlled if they wanted to use her. 

The downside was he was now alone in a city full of potential threats… Or food; he thought it depended on how his mood was…

Right now, he was in a good mood. When he had heard the phone rang, he thought he misheard, his hearing not being his forte, but when he got the confirmation he almost jumped on it. He had put the voice speaker to the loudest he could and had answered: “Dagon here, states your needs and give me a price.” He took the job without bothering to hear the price. The female voice was familiar and it was owned by a good client… one of his privileged lines of work.

It has been a while since she called him. She was a madrone and would occasionally ask for his service when some clients were a little too forward with her girls. Since they didn’t make much money they couldn’t hire full time security but instead called him over from time to time to remind people they could still protect themselves. They always paid him well and some girls would happily spend the night with him as thanks.

This time they needed protection for the whole ‘night’ if he dared to call it that since I was always ‘night’ in Undertopia. The madrone had told him about a pack of wolves who happened to stay nearby and harassed her girls. But he knew there was something more…

Mammal started to disappear. Beggars, little hustlers, prostitutes… Some strange stories were told about what happened to them: turned to slaves, victims of a serial killer that ate his victims, or the most stupid one: ‘used as test subject’. Though it wasn’t that stupid…

Slaves? Who would want a beggar or a prostitute as one? Serial killers usually tend to leave traces of what they did. Unless they were really careful but then again, eating your victim would make such a mess… he sadly knew about that too well … Kidnapping? He was a kidnapper himself so why not? but so many? It was unlikely… And the whole “test subject” thing? He had seen it back in his country so…

He didn’t care though, whoever it was, he wasn’t concerned. He would actually love to see someone try to kidnap him; he would love to break the stupid animal who did. Lost in his thoughts he made it to the place he was looking for. ‘The Vixen’ was in a little back alley of a main street. Most of the girls working here were canid but since he had spent the night with some hyena here he was sure it wasn’t all.

 

When he got nearby a grey and black she-wolf headed inside. After a few seconds, a red vixen opened the door and walked over him. “Dagon it has been a while,” she said extending a paw. “Just because you don’t always work with us doesn’t mean you or Nick can’t spend some time with the girls, you know they love you.”

He removed his hood and scarf then reached for her paw and shook it lightly. “Madame.” He never bothered to remember her name, he knew it had something to do with her fur’s color but didn’t care. Him referring to her as something else that ‘fox’ or ‘canid’ was rare enough so she should feel honored. He was sure Nick told her about it since she never tried to remind him her name ether. “The lasts three months weren’t kind to use, I’m afraid we couldn’t spend money with your girls.”

She huffed: “Yeah and I’m sure it’s not because you both spent some time with Nick’s client.” She held her right elbow with her left paw while waving the right one. This was the sign, he knew, she was teasing him so he didn’t answer. Seeing he wanted to remain professional she let go of the small talk. “As I told you it’s been going on for a week, this pack of wolves lurk around and harasses my girls. If they show up tonight I want you to get rid of them.” He nodded waiting for her to continue. “Don’t kill them, they were clients, what would mammals think if I hired you to bleed ex-clients?” He didn’t answer.

“If they don’t show up,” she added, “you get to sleep with any girl you want during the day ‘shift’ as a payment for your presence.” He thought it was a nice offer but waited for the real deal. “If they show up and you do your job I’ll pay a thousand Zoollars.” It indeed was nice to hear; back when they started, Nick and him would get many jobs with an income like this one, but lately things were going bad… And they had so much debt to repay… The money was more than welcome.

“Do I still get to spend the day with your girls?” he asked without hiding the greed in his voice. He had nothing to hide anyway as he already knew the answer. “If some of them want to see your fur-less hide, why not?” She complied smiling.

“We have a deal then,” he said while being the one extending his paw this time. She shook it with a smile, winked an eye and headed back inside the building letting him hide under his cloth once again and sit on a bench nearby. 

 

He spent the next four hours waiting, occasionally drinking a coffee brought by one of the girls. He was thankful; even if the metabolism of his species was different from any other reptile kind he was still a cold blooded being and needed anything to keep him warm and awake.

Moreover, the suggestive winks the girls gave him and the way some of them used their tails to shortly tease him raised his mood a bit… As much as it tensed him and make him hope the night would be over fast.

Luckily he hadn’t to wait for any longer before a pack of 6 wolves came by. Their ‘Alpha’ seemed to be a totally grey wolf. He was taller than all the others and seemed stronger too. He had some scars on his face and Dagon was sure he knew him… he just couldn’t remember where he met him. He observed them until they came across one of the Artic vixens that was standing on the street.

It didn’t take long before things started to escalated and the wolves threatened her. Dagon stood and walked toward them. Of course they noticed him and turned to face the bastard interrupting their fun.

“What do you want?” Asked a brown and white wolf. He stood in front of him baring his teeth. Dagon let his tongue slip out of his mouth; even with the scarf he recognized the taste of alcohol that was stuck to him. The wolf closed in and stood in front of him even if he barely made it to his chest.

“Trying to be the hero who saves the damsel in distress?” He asked while laughing a bit, “you better –“ He hadn’t the time to finish. Dagon was paid to break some bones, not listen to the babbling of a mammal stupid enough to stand in his reach. 

His left paw clenched into a fist and flew into the wolf lower jaw, breaking a few teeth and sending him on the ground immediately. Before he could try to get up, a military boot stomped on his right leg. The sound of breaking bones made every ear in the alley stand up.

Without any warning, three wolves dashed toward him. One of them jumped and tried to bide his arm. He let him do; his trench coat was made to be knife proof so the tooth of a wolf, even if they were sharp, hadn’t a single chance to pierce it. When the wolf had his jaw locked on his left arm, his right paw found a way to the articulation of his mouth and hit it hard, dislocating the lower jaw. The pain must have been unbearable because the wolf immediately let go of his arm and fainted.

The two other wolves stood still, both wondering if they should stay or run. The wolf who had stood back, _probably the omega,_ had already run away.

“I guess the weak always find a way to survive…” Said Dagon waving his head toward the place the wolf was supposed to be.

Stupidly, the two other looked back and he took his chance. He rushed toward the alpha and gave him a solid punch with his right paw. What was enough for the first wolf only seemed to force this one to lose his balance a bit before trying to maul him with his claws.

Dagon simply took a step back to avoid the strike, turned on himself and send his strong tail into the wolf’s head. He flew a few feet before crashing on the sidewalk, not moving an inch. The other wolf looked at him then back at his former alpha. He decided that it wasn’t worth the risk and ran away.

Dagon kneeled next to the wolf to make sure he wasn’t dead. He may have put too much force in his tail and could have killed him. Usually he could control his strength, the prof being that bunny father he sent flying with his tail without even knocking him down. But right now, seeing the wolf take his punch as if it was nothing more than a slap, he lost control in the heat of the fight and decided to put a little bit of strength in the blow.

When he checked his pulse, and found one, he also noticed his neck had been shaved at some place and a red tattoo could be seen. It was a clawed and padded paw with a sharp canine inside. This explained where he could have met him… It reminded him of the darkest part of his life. A life Nick saved back then. He made a frown, finding some animal with this tattoo only meant some kind of trouble. He still took the three wolves and tossed them near the trash bags of the closed house. They would wake up wounded, both in their honor and body and wouldn’t come by anytime soon.

The rest of the night went pretty well except for a bunch of various mammals that came totally wasted and started to annoy the girls. Dagon had to ‘kindly’ ask them to leave, which they happily did when he took his hood off.

When the morning came, the artic vixen came by and took him in her room. He followed, too happy to complain at the girl taking command. They both spent a nice morning… That he could tell… He had loved her massages and she had loved the way he made her scream.  

Of course because of her screams he didn’t hear his phone ring and wasn’t aware of what kind of trouble Nick had run into.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it! finished, posted! And thanks Gamer4cod (Fanfiction.net) for helping me with this story!  
> I decided that every 5 chapt. I would tell the story through Dagon’s POV. Sometimes he will be with our favorite fluffy couple and sometime he’ll mind his own business.


	6. The world's biggest legal Hustle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! How have you been? Did you miss me? (not like you’re going to answer me…) *hum* Sorry, I was busy with “An unusual PTS-Disapearing” (yeah, yeah I know the name wasn’t so great but, did you read it for the name or for Lovecraft?) And you can blame Christmas and new year for the delay…

Nick POV

 

“Thanks for living up to the stereotype of the hyena that cracks bad jokes and loudly laugh at them Tom.” Nick simply answered as he went inside. Judy stood there until he turned around and ordered her to follow him with a tilt of his head. “Lead me to Baika.” He added.

“Yeah sure Nicky.” Answered the spotted hyena. “Just… Who is she?” A finger was pointing at Judy and a small disturbed face could be seen on the predator’s face. He looked at her; she had her ears down and held her sweatshirt up so it would hide her collar.

Nick simply took her paws and lowered them so every mammal in the room could see the collar she was wearing: “She’s _mine_ , and that’s all you have to know; Baika allowed it.” He didn’t look at the bunny’s face but he was sure she was sad, if not pissed off, by his answer.

“And what’s that?” asked a grey and white wolf looking at the bag in his hand. He threw it to the canid and waited for him to look inside. When he saw all the bunny sized cloth he smiled and simply pawed it back to him. “All clean.”

Tom was still looking at Judy so Nick decided to hurry things up. “I’m okay with staying here but I’m sure your boss have other plans for me. Can we go?” The predator nodded and leaded the way.

 

They took a way going deeper to the underground and Nick saw Judy’s ears stand a bit. She must have heard the music coming from below far before even he could. When they finally reached down, Nick saw the whole basement he was used to. Neon’s light everywhere, loud electronic music and a not so crowed dancefloor.

Judy’s ears were now down and both her paws were held on them. It seemed the music was a bit too loud for her sensitive hearing. They kept following the Hyena and this time they were lead to a door behind the scene. On it was a “DANGER; HIGH VOLTAGE” sign. They went through it and, once the wolf that followed them closed it, the music became lighter. They were in a small room with no sign of any electrical device. ‘Of course since it’s just a decoy’ He thought.

Judy took her paw off her ears, the music probably bearable now, and reached for her sweatshirt collar. He grabbed her and shook his head, making it clear she wasn’t allowed to hide the collar. She seemed reluctant to do so but finally obeyed.

They took another way, going up this time and made it to a casino. ‘It’s been a while’ thought Nick as he went inside. The music could still be heard but a lot less noisy this time. Mammals were betting a fair amount of money on all the different kind of games here. Gorgeous waitresses were carrying countless glasses of alcohol to the different gamblers, taking pawfull of cash from the patrons. He smiled as he saw one of them, a cheetah, look at the card of a poker player and made some almost imperceptible signs to tell the dealer what his cards were.

Judy on the other paw had her nose twitching and ears fully erect. She looked around with pure surprise on her face, ‘Maybe she never went to a casino before…’ It made him chuckle a little when he thought of her playing Texas Hold’em an overpriced glass of whiskey on her paw.

   

Tom led them to another door with ‘private’ written on it. He opened it and let them in before following with two wolf guards as he closed it behind them. Immediately, no sound could be heard.

Baika, a female hyena with nice curves, was standing, looking through a window that, Nick knew, was in fact a false mirror. He stood where he was, not saying anything. It was the employer who had to speak first.

She slowly looked at him then to Judy; fixing her gaze on the collar around the bunny’s neck. She marveled for a moment then looked back at Nick with a small hint of surprise in her eyes. “Nick, how nice to see you after so long.” She finally said while walking to him. She raised her paw a bit and Nick took it in his own, bended and landed a small kiss on its back.

“If I recall madam,” he responded with a sarcastic smile, “last time I came I was thrown through the door with a death threat.” He knew she wouldn’t mind his sarcasm; she wouldn’t have called him if she still held a grunge against him.

“You were cheating.” She kindly reminded him with a gentle smile.

“So was the croupier.” He smiled the same way she did. There was no animosity between them, just two mammals who enjoyed messing with each other. “You can’t blame it on me to make it up for all the mammals you ruined.”

“You weren’t throw out for cheating Nick.” She lightly laughed, “You were throw out because you were caught.”

“And because you had to make an example.” He added with a grin.

“And because I had to make an example.” She repeated.

Her gaze went back on Judy and her collar. She seemed to study her, determining if she was a threat or not. She turned around the stiff bunny who held her arm on her chest, but not crossed: a sign of protection. He was about to ask Baika to stop when she turned back to him with a toothy grin. “So she’s the reason you almost couldn’t come? A new acquisition?”

“A long unpaid debt,” he pointed as he put a paw on Judy’s shoulder. “I had to send Dagon to collect it…” He pressed on Judy’s shoulder, hoping she understood he was lying. Hoping she knew by now that Dagon would act by himself most of the time they weren’t together. But he had to lie; Baika didn’t need to know Dagon wasn’t exactly his henchreptile.

“And that all he got?” she asked “Your lizard is getting rusty…” He never liked the way mammal talked about his friend. They could badmouth him or his species but not his friend, none, never.

“And by the look of this place I guess you know a lot about rust.” This time the answer was a warning. It was his way to say ‘be careful, you’re wasting my time and I don’t like it, neither do I like _the way_ you’re wasting it.’

Fortunately, the Hyena was a bit thick and chuckled. He crossed his arms waiting for her to regain seriousness. When she did he talked again: “So about this work…”

“Right, back to business.” She said, sitting on a sofa and gesturing to the one in front of her. She waited for him to sit, Judy standing next to him. Allowing her to sit would put her on the same level as them and he couldn’t allow this right now: Baika wouldn’t find it funny.

“I need you to hold a Blackjack table.” She simply said. “One of my boys double crossed me and I had to be sure he would never again.”

“Fair enough,” he replied. Of course he knew she most likely had the poor guy killed but right now he couldn’t afford to lose this job. He needed money, _fast_. “How long do you want me to do it?”

“Honestly Nick, I would like to definitely hire you but we both know that with your species’ reputation…”

“–Nobody would spend too much time on the table.” He finished the sentence for her; he knew she didn’t mean harm, her own species also was a target for bigotry and prejudice and that’s why she had trouble explaining that she couldn’t keep him. “It’s alright, I know mammals think we’re cheaters… beside that’s the reason you want me right?”

The female grinned: he had guessed right. “You start tonight. I’ll try to keep you for a week while I’m looking for someone else. As for your payment, you keep three percent of what you make us win.”

 

The offer was a good one, but he knew he could get more. “Make it five percent and you have a deal.” He showed a greedy grin; she wouldn’t agree of course but maybe he could get four percent.

“You’re joking right? My boys get three percent too! You can’t expect me to pay you more than them.” She wouldn’t let go of so easily but he had some aces in his sleeves.

“Your boys work here all year long, I don’t. So I want an extra for the precarious employment.” His face was dead serious and he locked eye with the hyena. She stiffened up a bit and quickly looked away; he had this impact on mammals, he knew how to give them the feeling he looked right in their souls.

“Four percent.” She replied crossing her arms. It was the sign she wouldn’t up the price anymore. But he still had one card to play. And she was just standing at his left. He simply looked at Judy with an annoyed face and made a frown when he gazed back at Baika. She must have remembered he told her on the phone he would ask for an extra, since he was already taken for the night, because she threw her arms in the air and almost shouted “Fine, Fine! Five percent! But you better earn a lot!”

“Of course I will!” He grinned before taking the bag of clothes he had. He searched for a precise piece of cloth… One he saw back at the flying fox shop. When he found it his grin went wider as he looked at Judy and added: “And she’ll help me…” 

 

 

Judy POV

 

The more Nick looked inside the bag; the scarier it became… every piece of clothes he removed was way too daring for her. She didn’t recall seeing such clothes in the front shop of the flying fox. And why did she gave him those kind of clothes to begin with?

_Because you obviously are his property and… well…_

Nick turned around with a devilish smile: “And she’ll help me…” he was holding a short black dress. 

“Noooooo…” she wined; only to have Nick grin even more. He stood and carelessly tossed the dress at her. It felt on her head and she carefully removed it, eyes on the fabric that may have been the worst thing the fox could get out of the bag. The dress was probably designed for a bunny sized mammal except its hips weren’t as strong as a bunny’s… The back of the dress was meant to be nude while the front was the perfect example of “tease but don’t show”. And the bottom… short, soooo short! There was no way she would wear this! 

Baika, as Nick named her, nodded in agreement after seeing the dress: “A nice choice Nick; she will definitely be an asset!”

She was about to answer that she would never put this on but Nick spoke first. “That’s the only reason she isn’t chained somewhere.” The warning was clear: she wasn’t allowed to refuse. He had already made it clear after all, she had to obey his every commands, her agreement wasn’t needed.

 

“Come there girl.” Said Baika as she stood and walked to a backdoor. It led to a small closet… Small for a hyena, but big enough for a bunny to stand inside. “Change here, I don’t want my boys to look at you too much, I’m a bit possessive.” The grin she gave her was full of deadly fangs.

She instinctively looked back at Nick who was the only mammal she seemed to be able to rely on here. He waved his paw, allowing her to go inside the closet. Baika shut half of the door so she could hide behind it and still have some light to change.

She froze here, not sure how to put the dress... and still sure she didn’t _want_ to put it. But she knew she would be in trouble if she didn’t. She was in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by many predators; it wouldn’t be wise to go against them… Not to forget Nick still had a remote for her collar; he seemed reluctant in using it but she feared he would if things didn’t went how he wanted.

“Hurry up bunny; I won’t be able to hold them any longer.” Said Baika from the other side of the door. She obeyed, not sure if she the hyena was joking or not. She hastily tossed her clothes away and started to put the black dress. She struggled as she was trying to put her hips inside it but finally managed to fit in it. She looked at herself, pulled down the skirt to be sure nothing could be see and headed outside.

 

She immediately regretted it. All the male of the room had their phones out; when she was in sight they all shoot picture at her like professional photographers. When she managed to hide herself behind her Baika it was already too late.

 “Indeed, perfect choice Wilde.” Judy looked at the wolf that talked; he was giving him some cash. The fox then turned to the two other males with an extended paw. They both gave him a small smile before paying too.

“Thanks for your patronage, if you want more you’ll have to wait tomorrow… I can’t have my bunny flush to death now.” He grinned at her.

“Did –did you sell them the right to take picture of me?” Her face was so hot she wasn’t sure it was because of embarrassment or anger. She was a cop damn it! How could they do such a thing?!

_I’m not sure you want them to know you’re attempting at the academy…_

‘Touché.’ She answered herself; it was obvious they wouldn’t like the idea of a soon to be cop in their hideout.

“Hopefully it won’t be the only part of you he’ll sell us!” Joked the spotted hyena before the two wolves howled at the idea… before they whimpered at the angry glance Baika gave them.  

Judy too looked at Nick with anger only to see him wearing a wider grin and making circles with his finger… The universal sign that meant ‘turn around’. Baika stepped back, leaving her alone for them to see. With all support down she obeyed the fox but swore deep down she would find a way to repay him.

 

She expected to hear them take more pictures but instead she heard an annoyed grump and felt a paw pushing her back. She looked at Nick before he forced her into the closet… And started to strip her down.

“What do you think you’re doing?!” she shouted when she felt his paw beneath the fabric. She tried to struggle, to set herself free but he held firm… and growled. It was a simple warning which said: ‘don’t move or you’ll regret it’. She felt tears flow to her eyes when he removed the top of her dress.

The fox started to remove the bandage that covered her torso… and her privacy. She held her tears as well as she could. If she couldn’t fight him without having trouble later then she at least wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of making her cry. His paw started to brush her back and her right shoulder meticulously. Sooner or later he would start to go after her front side and then there would be nothing she could do.

 

Or so she thought… He stopped there and left the closet. He ran his paw a bit to the front of her torso but stopped before going anywhere private. Then it hit her: ‘He was checking for the bites marks the reptile must’ve left on me.’

She put the dress back on her and wiped her tears. ‘What happened’ she asked herself, ‘why would he do that?’ before heading out once more. This time none of the males had their phone out but they all looked at her with expecting gaze.

She didn’t know what to do nor where to look. She couldn’t look at Nick after what happened so she finally looked at the only other female in the room. The hyena rolled her eyes at her when their gaze met and moved her fingers the same way Nick did a short time ago. She obliged not fully understanding.

“Far better without the strange bandage.” Said Tom.

“Agreed; and I love the way the dress put her tail on display.” Added one of the wolf.

“Are tails a canid thing?” asked Tom toward Nick.

“Is it? Yes, yes it is.” His face was wearing a smug smirk and his emerald eyes looked deeply into her amethyst’s. He clearly enjoyed what he was looking at.

“To work!” Almost shouted Baika, a hint a jealousy in her voice. “She better be worth all the trouble you put us through Nick.”

He nodded with a smirk and went to the exit door. The wolf opened it for him and Tom led the way. Judy almost froze where she was but then she remembered the collar and followed, not wanting to find out if being too far away from the Fox would really shock her.

 

“You don’t intend to work in those clothes Nicky?” asked Tom.

“I’m sure you have some changes to spare…” he simply answered. The hyena made a frown but didn’t say anything. He led them to a locker room and, after a short time, gave him a pair of black pant, a white shirt and a black jacket.

“So, what was that bandage thing?” he asked while Nick looked at the clothes. “She doesn’t appear to be hurt and I don’t I see nor smell blood on her fur…”

“Dagon…” He simply answered. The hyena shivered. The message was clear: whatever happened was the lizard’s business and no-one ask about it… Unless they wanted to deal directly with him.  

Silence fell as Nick started to undress, apparently not fazed by the presence of a doe next to him. She felt her ears burn when he threw his pants away, only keeping his boxer to hide is virility. She found herself unable to look away; even when he turned toward her and grinned. “I guess you staring is payback for earlier Carrots?” her only reaction was to pull her ears before her eyes while turning away. She heard him and Tom chuckle. After a short time she felt a little tap on her shoulder and dared to look at its origin.

She saw the fox dressed like a waiter in all black and white. Gone was the tie; instead he had unbuttoned two of his shirt’s buttons showing his creamy fur. The shirt must have been a bit too big, but he still managed to make it work. He had the sleeves rolled up his elbows, this allowed her to see his svelte and yet strong forearms.

She had known only a few foxes, including Gideon Grey but she could tell by their standards that Nick was handsome.

“Alright Carrots, let me introduce you to the world’s biggest _legal_ hustle.” He said putting his arm around her shoulders and leading her to the casino.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I’ll stop here, no cliffhanger. If I wanted to do one I think I should have added half a chapter… And Gamer4cod may have tried to get my head for that. Anyway, I don’t have much to say so I’ll let Gamer speak a bit. See ya! Now… what do you mean we don’t have any more champagne?! Putain je peux quand même pas avoir tout bu! Sorts toi les doigts du cul et trouve moi d’autres bouteilles, j’ai soif! 
> 
> G4COD : Tequila, por favor! What do ya mean I’m cut off? It was one time! Okay, okay, two- Well how do you knock out a six and a half foot, two hundred and fifty pound roughneck ? Of course throwing him out the window was necessary, and so was shanking him with one of the pieces! Ah fuck you and pour me a double before I break my Red Wings off in your scratchback ass! I swear, the nerve of some people. I wonder if the author of this story has the same problem in France that I have in Mexico… or Brownsville… or San Antonio? I really need to stop drinking and fighting so much. 
> 
> Nope, we French are peaceful folks… Meh, who am I fooling? Pas vrai les rosbifs et les cartoful ! (Jk I love you my neighbours)


	7. Gamble

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello my dear readers. Sorry for the delay. I got busy with “The Cursed Crusade” (if you haven’t checked it out, do so now!… or after reading this chapter…) and despite finishing half of the chapter in one night it sadly slowed as real life called and asked for the part of my soul it owns. Anyway, enjoy this chapter.

Judy POV

 

Judy could tell Nick was enjoying himself. After twenty minutes wandering in the racket he choose to stop at the Blackjack table near the bar. At first, no mammals dared to come over; they knew a fox croupier couldn’t be trusted and even if such specism drove her mad she knew, thanks to Nick and Baika’s conversation, that the fox was here to hustle the clients. In fact, she may have been mad at _him_.

She had fought all her life to show she could be more than a cute little rabbit from Bunnyburrow. She had faced discrimination, bigotry and yet she proved all her naysayer wrong. She had made it to the academy, she was able to knock down a rhino!

_And you’re here collared to a fox in a shady place wearing a dress so small any wind-blown would have you naked._

She pulled her skirt down for the tenth time in a minute. ‘I’ll make it back to the academy and they are all going down once I do’

Nick wasn’t stupid, he knew no one would come and bid at his table, that’s why he had her in such a small outfit… and asked the Hyena behind the bar to put glasses of liquor before each place. Many mammals passing by were either looking at Judy or at the glasses and finally, some dared to sit in front of the table. At first they were all winning, and of course, more and more mammals gathered around. Slowly, the bids got higher, but fewer mammals were winning. Nick was teasing them into placing higher bids to get back what they lost. Sometime it worked, Nick had no trouble emphazing each win and making each lost seem small. Yet Judy noticed that the longer the night went, the bigger the pile of money near him got.

From time to time he would gesture a paw at the bartender and pointed at a client. Of course most patrons feared there was something inside the liquor. That’s when Nick had Judy work. She would have to taste the drink to show that nothing bad was inside. If at first the liquor had burned her throat, after the twentieth time she didn’t feel anything anymore. The only thing that pissed her off despite her state was that she clearly saw most of the males – and even some females – drink right where she had put her own lips to taste the glass. Even some clients that clearly weren’t bothered by the fox – and already had a couple of drinks – still asked her to taste their liquor.

‘What do they take me for?’ she asked herself

_You’re just mad Nick hadn’t asked you to taste his own drink._

‘NO!’ she shouted at her own less sober self. ‘Do they know what they’re doing can be considered as sexual harassment?’

_You mean like when Nick started to undress you?_

“I need a break” she said to her inner voice... Before looking at Nick and all the patrons around the table. “Did I said that out loud?” she asked. Nick started chuckling, as did most of the gambler around the table and a few seconds later, them were all laughing so loudly she felt her ears ring due to the dangerous mixture of alcohol and drunken mammal’s laughter.

 

 

“I guess rabbit paws really do bring good luck because I need a break myself lady and gentlemammals.” Said Nick with a smile.

‘No, a smirk,’ she thought, the fox was up to something…

 “Care to verify if it’s true?” he asked the gamblers before him.

They almost immediately silenced. “What do you propose?” asked a tall tiger that, despite the time he had spent here, had managed to win more money than he had lost. Judy suspected that Nick hadn’t tried to bride him to bid unlike many other clients.

“I double the price. If you win you get three times your bid. If you hit the blackjack I’ll give you four times your bid.” Judy had spent enough time watching them play to understand Nick was taking a huge risk. He had won a fair amount of cash but with seven gamblers around the table he had to be sure not to lose or he would have to pay from his own pocket to make it up for Baikai’s loss. 

“But!” Nick almost shouted, holding a paw in the air. “I’m not playing for a few bucks. Show your money or I’ll feel like I’m wasting my time”.

“What are you up to _fox_?” asked a ram siting at the edge of the table. The guy was far past sober and had already lost dozens of Zoollars. This had made him grumpy and far less civilized. Judy swore he had a death wish. Most of the mammals around the table and in the room were predators; they probably wouldn’t take such bigotry easily.   

But that seemed to awake the other mammals around the table. “Yeah, I see where this is going, you force us to bid a lot and you cheat on us right?” Said one. “True, he _is_ a fox after all.” Said another. Judy couldn’t believe her ears, they had spent so much time near the fox and he had been as civilized as he could be, joking with some of them, sharing drinks, he had even given love advice to one of them! And yet they all treated him as if he was the worst kind of criminal.

While she was boiling inside Nick was perfectly calm. After a few complaints he took a few steps back, and pushed her before him. “Her,” he said with a gentle smile – _grin, it’s a grin_ – “You don’t trust a fox, I get it, but maybe you’ll trust a cute and sexy bunny.”

“Don’t call me –what? W –What did you called me?!” she blurted feeling her cheeks getting hot.

“Alright,” he cut her off, “Serendipity here will draw the cards, this way, the big bad fox won’t touch them and won’t be able to cheat.” It took Judy a few second to understand he was referring at her as Serendipity. “Moreover,” he added, his grin now bigger than it ever was, “the first one to get blackjack also win a kiss from mah bunny!”

It was done for the gamblers that shouted at each other and almost started to fight for a place. Judy on the other paw wasn’t boiling anymore… She was melting steel.

‘How dare he sell my lips so casually?! First tasting all the drinks and letting all those jackass second paw kiss me and now this? That’s it! I’m gonna kill him!’ she screamed internally.

_Or HE could hit the blackjack…_

‘Then I’ll take the occasion to bite his face off!’ She thought calming down. The previously melted steel now forged into a two pawed Warhammer she was about to smash on the fox’s head.

“Now, now,” Nick called. “I’m here for a whole week; you can trust me in making similar offers now and then.”

_What do you think he will ask you to do next? A pole dance?_

‘That’s it, I kill that fox and then I’m hanging myself for having such a thought!’

“Today, I get to kiss your bunny…” said the tiger while putting a stack of Zoollars on the bid table. “If you want me to bid more tomorrow you’ll have to bring out a better prize.”

‘It’s a conspiracy! They are all here to make fun of me!’ She shouted internally, her jaw lowering in the process.

_I think they want something else but…_

“I’m in!” Shouted the ram putting his wallet on the table. “I’ll show you I don’t fear your kind.”

Five more gamblers placed a fair amount of money on the table and they all waited.

“Well Carrots, it’s up to you now.” Nick said leaning down, almost whispering to her ear. “Show us how this bunny’s magic works.” His face was fearless, as if he knew they would win.

 

She froze for a moment then extended her paw. She had never played blackjack but she had spent enough time here to know what to do.

She gave each player two cards then put one for herself, an Ace. Then another hidden. She looked at the table. Good news, none of them had hit blackjack so she wouldn’t have to kiss anyone. She looked at Nick in delight but the grin on his face scared her even more.

“Hit.” Said a Lion sitting on the left edge of the table. His score was fifteen. She obliged, at this point, all of the table was going silent. Players from other tables, now curious were now taking peak at them… twenty four. “NOooo!” shouted the Lion standing up “Fuck you!”

“Hit!” Shouted the white and grey she-wolf sitting next to him to cover his fury. “And you can keep your money, I’ll take _your_ lips instead.” she said smiling at Nick.

“All day long if you want, sweetheart.” He answered with a wink. Her score hit nineteen. “Stand?” He asked.

“Stand.” She nodded with a frown. It was obvious she wasn't happy with her score.

“Better luck next time.” added Nick with a voice that meant he already knew they would score higher than that.

“Stand.” Added the boar at her right. His score was twenty. This time Nick didn’t say anything.

“Split.” The tone was gentle, almost sweet, controlled. Judy looked at the Tiger, his face was emotionless. Two eights were in front of him. He put another pack of cash on the table. Judy gave him another card. Fourteen. “Hit.” Twenty. “Stay.” He wasn’t looking at her but at the fox standing right behind her. “Hit.” She gave him one more card on his other split. Eighteen. He was still looking at Nick. “Try me” he finally said. Not knowing what to do she looked at Nick who was now wearing a face so serious that it almost looked like a frown on him.

Nick extended his paw and placed it on her shoulder. The contact made her freeze. “Keep going,” he said. She obeyed… twenty one. The silence that until now was church like broke when many mammals started clapping their paws, congratulating the Tiger for his gamble. Then silence returned.

“Hit.” He said again. His second game reached fifteen. “Hit.” Twenty… “stand.” This time the room remained silent, it was a good number but it wasn’t nearly as epic as what he had already done.

“Hit.” Said the next gambler, a wolf that had asked Judy to often taste his glass and had spent the night winking at her… along with other less civilized gestures. Seventeen. Tension was building up: Seventeen was the worse number. If the croupier was to stop at seventeen it wouldn’t be a problem but the chances were small, even more with an ace as a first card. Yet taking more cards was dangerous: if he got more than a four he would lost… and he had put a fair amount of cash on the table. 

“Hit.” He finally cracked. Twenty two… the wolf felt silent. Every mammal around the table waiting for his reaction. “No way I get that kiss, right?” he asked with a sad voice.

“Next time pal, next time.” Answered Nick. This was the moment Judy noticed he still had his paw on her shoulder. She shivered. The fox must have seen her discomfort because he let go of her.

“Hit.” The harsh voice of the Tasmania calmed the laugher that had started to rise from the ‘public’. Thirteen. “Hit.” Twenty three. “Shit! Fuck my luck!” he shouted but calmed down immediately. By the sight of his appeal, the amount he had bid meant nothing to him.

It was finally the ram’s turn.  “Hit.” Ten. “Hit.” Eighteen. “Hit…” the room froze silence once more. By that time all the clients of the shady casino were around the table. “I said hit!” he almost shouted when Judy didn’t react. Twenty. Once more the room went silent. Finally the ram shook his head. “Stand.”

It was about time to show the hidden card. An ace in the croupier’s paw was pretty dangerous, that’s why they all tried to get to twenty one at all costs. Judy was about to reveal the card when Nick stopped her.

“Whatever is this card, remember there are security cameras here.” He pointed on top of the bar.

‘So that makes one more reason to choose this table.’ Judy thought. Once more she reached for the card and once more Nick stopped her again.

He went to the bar and took the barman’s blending spoon. After whipping it out he came back and put it under the hidden card. Time froze as he slowly turned it… A heart queen… Over an ace black spade… Blackjack… Silence lasted five more seconds before the room erupted in screams, curses, laugher, shouts, whistles… and a death threat.

 

 

The ram was standing up and started to walk toward Nick with pure hatred in his eyes. “I don’t know how you did it but you cheated!” He all but shouted. Judy’s training warned her. This mammal was dangerous. He was about to kill someone.

“You, fox, will give me back my money.” A distinctive ‘tac’ could be heard. The ram was holding a switchblade in his right hoof but Nick was completely ignoring him. He was collecting the money from the table, leaving just one pack of money for the tiger that had hit twenty one with one of his split.

“I’m talking to you Fucktard!” But Nick kept on ignoring him. He was now putting all the money he got in a case he had found under the table.

“Stop ignoring me!” This time the ram tried to grab Judy by the arm. She was about to defend herself when she felt another grip on her shoulder that pulled her away from the ram’s reach. Nick stood in front of her; gone was the smirk he had worn until now. His face was annoyed if not seriously pissed off and Judy swore she once again saw something savage in his emerald eyes.

She fell glad he was standing for her; no one ever did… but at the same time, it was the fox that had brought her here… and she was a cop! She could take care of herself.

_Soon to be cop, at most… Now shut up and enjoy the show…_

The ram extended his arm; knife aiming for the fox’s side.

In an instant, Nick turned a bit, a telescoping nightstick shot in his paw and he instantly crashed it below the ram’s hoof, sending the knife flying away. The sound of bone breaking made the whole room freeze in silence; safe for the ram now screaming in pain and taking a few steps back.

“I’ll Fucking kill you!” he shouted as he rushed heads first toward the fox.

Nick also rushed to meet the ram but dropped his weapon and jumped over him. While in midair he caught the ram’s left horn. The ram stopped immediately. The strength of his run added to Nick’s jump and the fox’s weight twisted the charging mammal’s head. His foot kept going forward while his head was going backwards with a distinct snap.

Nick landed on all fours while the ram hit the floor on his back with an “oomph”. By that time two Hyenas were on the ram, pinning him to the ground. “That’s it boys, keep him from moving.”

Judy turned to see Baika slowly walking towards the ram. She took the nightstick that was laying on the floor and casually tossed it to Nick, continuing her walk. “Take this poor loser somewhere we can have a nice conversation.” She looked at Nick. “Take the rest of the night off Nick. Oh and  you’ve done well; it has been a while since we had such a show.” The room felt silent… “I meant the blackjack…” She started to laugh louder and louder as she followed ‘her boys’ and the, now pale, ram asking… well mostly shouting; to be released.

“Poor guy,” said Nick, “he doesn’t know what awaits him…” His voice was soft and his concern almost genuine so Judy looked at him with surprise. “What?” He inquired. “You can’t expect him to get out of here unharmed. He’ll be lucky if he still has his pant when she’ll toss him out.” He then lightly chuckled and walked toward the closet room.

 

 

She followed in silence, unsure of what to think of it. Nick had faced an armed mammal as if it was nothing. He had shown a great control of the situation and had managed to end it with, almost, no one getting injured. ‘Where did he get such skills?’ She asked herself…

Immediately after entering the room Nick started to undress, once again totally obvious to the bunny standing next to him. He took off his shirt, not taking the time to undo the buttons and carelessly tossed it away. At this moment, Judy saw the holster for the nightstick attached to his forearm.

Nick noticed her gaze and gave her a small grin: “Only for self-protection, Carrots.” He must have used the size of the shirt to hide it here; which explained why it looked like it appeared out of nowhere.

“Not that you seemed to really need one after that acrobatic show…” She answered. Of course she didn’t like what he had done but she had to admit it had a certain effect.

_Yep, a certain effect…_

“I’m drunk,” she blurted without a single care for if it was out loud or in her mind.

“Yeah, I guess I could have figured it out by now, fluff…” Came Nick’s answer.

_So out loud it is… You really love putting yourself in uncomfortable positions, right?_

“Hummm Carrots, I don’t mind taking off my pants right in front of you and exhibit all of my foxiness but I’m not sure it’s safe for a cute bunny’s eyes.” Nick said while she was dosing off.

“Don’t call me –“ He didn’t let her finish and pulled his pants down, totally naked save for his boxer.

_Wow…_

Judy instantly turned away, her ears growing hot. She heard a snicker behind her but didn’t give it a thought. It was bad enough that he could get to her like that, no need to give more satisfaction to his infuriating ego.

“You can turn back I’m decent.” He said after what felt like an eternity. He was back in his usual clothes and wore his tie a little looser than usual. “So what ‘me’ do you prefer Carrots? Casual or professional?”

“At least the professional had decent clothes…” She said gesturing towards his Hawaiian’s shirt. ‘I would rather not see any version of him!’ She added in her mind, still mad at him for what he had done to her.

“Let’s check on Baika before we leave. From what I can tell, she would be pretty upset if we didn’t say goodbye.” He walked outside the closet and walked toward her office. When they reached it one of the two wolves standing in front opened the door for them and followed.

 

 

Baika was alone; she was wearing a happy grin that turned almost genuine when she saw Nick.

“What can I do for you, handsome?” She asked, not bothering to hide the fact she was hitting on him… _hard._

“Keep that for my other job,” he answered with a small flirty tone, “I’m just here to thank you for the opportunity.”

“Why, you are welcome, Nicky. I know it has been hard for Dagon and you lately. Speaking of which…” She gave him a pawfull of cash. “Here is your first day pay.” Nick took it and started counting. “You can be proud of you, none of my boys ever made so much money in such a short time.”

“What can I say; they’re not nearly as good as I am.” He was wearing his usual smug grin that always angered Judy. ‘And full of themselves as you are!’ She thought.

“Yeah, about that…” The wolf that had been silent all this time had this extremely curious look on his face. “How did you know none of them would win and, worse, that _you_ would hit the Blackjack?”

Nick and Baika had the same grin on their faces while Judy and the wolf now had the same ‘what’s wrong with you two’ face. “He’s new around here; got him two weeks ago, he’s a guard, not a dealer so you can’t blame him.” Pointed Baika when Nick started to snicker.

“I was cheating, wolfy.” Explained Nick with a wink.

“Yep, the same way you did when I threw you out four month ago.” Added Baika.

“How?” It was Judy’s turn to speak and earn the devious grin from the two predators.

“This devilish Todd kept the count of ALL the cards he had used.” Answered Baika with a smile.

“My, madam, if you keep being so pushy with this fox I’m afraid I’ll have to give you a discount on my sidework.” He winked at her.

Baika started to laugh like crazy once more visibly not shaken nor disturbed by the fox’s flirty answer. Judy fell like she could have gone like this for hours if the wolf didn’t stopped her by asking: “Wait you mean you remembered all the cards and tricked them into betting when you were sure none of them could win?”

“Not totally,” Nick gave him a fully toothy grin, “in fact, when Serendipity did her little show I decided to remove exactly five cards when all eyes were on her…”

“No way?” The wolf seemed at a loss for words.

“It’s a skill very few mammals have.” Explained Baika. “Most dealers have to learn it in case a gambler tries to cheat his way out. It takes forever to teach though, my boys have to practice a lot to be this good.”

“I just happen to have a very good memory.” Nick added with a prideful grin.

“That would explain the Ram’s furry…” Said the wolf.

“Speaking of which, how did it go?” Asked Nick. His tone was so relaxed and casual one could have thought he talked about the weather.

“Well he said some really mean specist comments on a part of my kind’s anatomy…” Baika trailed the ‘y’ as she reached back onto the desk behind her. “Let’s just say he’ll think twice before doing it again…” In her paw was a broken, curved horn and on her face was a smile of pure evil pleasure.

“Owwww.” Was all Nick could mutter. Obviously he knew something like this would have happened.

“That’s not what I think it is, right?” Judy asked praying that all this was just some kind of bad joke. Sure the ram had been mean to Nick, sure he had tried to stab him, but he was drunk! He deserved to be punished but not to suffer something like this. It must have been a terrible humiliation for the ram.

“Sure is, cutie.” Answered Baika waving the horn. She was obviously enjoying this. Both destroying the ram and shocking her to the extent she was now shivering of anger.

“Don’t call me cute!” She shouted at the psychopathic predator in front of her; alcohol preventing her from being scared. Whatever Judy’s drunken anger had tried to accomplish seemed to work because the hyena went through all kinds of expressions. From shocked to hear a rabbit shout at her like that, to excitement… before setting on anger too.

“Nicky… You should train your slave more properly, she doesn’t know respect.” Her tone was as cold as ice and disgust filled her voice. If until now she had liked Judy’s presence she now resented her.

Judy should have caught the warning but her frustration; coupled with all the alcohol she had drunk over the past twelve ours clouded her mind. “Screw you!” She shouted. “I’m no slave! I’m a cadet at the ZPD!”

It didn’t take a second for Baika to burst into a laugher harder than everything Judy had ever heard. ‘Must be stronger than the Lizard’s’ Judy thought to herself as she held her paws over her ears. She noticed the door opened and that Tom as well as one other hyena and two wolves had busted in, weapons in their paws. They all gave their boss a concerned look; judging by their expression they must have expected something else.

“Li–listen boys…” She managed to say while holding her sides. “This–this _bunny_ said –said she was go–going to b–be a cop” She busted back to her laugher. All the mammal in the room checked Judy up and laughed with their boss. Each mammal in this room was making fun of her… Save for one fox who looked at her with some seriously worried expression.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Annnnnd CUT. That’ll do it. Man an entire chapter with Judy’s POV, sorry Nick, next time pal. I really loved to talk about the blackjack that is, along with tarot one of my favorite gambling game.  
> For those of you who aren't gamblers, when you get 21 (an ace and ten or jack or king or queen) on your first draw that's called blackjack, and you immediately get two and a half times your bet. IF you get a 21 after having 'hit' you only win twice your bet and that's NOT called blackjack. AND yet; if the dealer also have a 21 then it's a draw and you just get your bid back.  
> And before anyone start to point it: YES I know the gamblers could have took an “insurance” (since Nick had an ace) so they wouldn’t lose too much money from the bet. But I figured it would be dumb to do this in an illegal casino AND not all real casinos allow it AND if they do they don’t tell you about it.  
> Now I’ll work on the second chapter of the cursed crusade. G4COD? A word?  
>   
> G4COD: I just woke up from a comma induced coma. Someone, please, tell me what year is it. Heh, most of the people on this site are fueled by coffee, but I'm one of the few who are powered by nicotine and liquor; but I'm pretty sure I'm one of the not good but not bad authors as well. Maybe I should drink more coffee? (Yep, you should-Dagon)(Edit;Holyshitthatwasaterribleidea,someonepleasegetmesomewhiskeyandapackofCamels!!!)  
>   
> Excuse him, he doesn't know what's good for him... *wave a bottle of Cointreau* come back here you wolf/coyote thingy!


	8. Bitter revenge

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooooo… I’m sorry? I tried to rewrite chapter two and three AND write this one in the same time… As you can guess it didn’t go well because I got fed up with the rewrite and couldn’t focus on writing chapter 8…   
> Oh and you can blame G4COD too! We chatted all night long so I hadn’t the time to write! And he told me about “Earning the badge” by BunnyRock! (don’t put your snout in it or you’re good for the night and still ask for more) I lost two hours reading it! Yeah that’s it, it’s G4COD fault! I’m innocent!   
> [G4COD: Screw you and you're welcomed!?]

Nick POV

 

Nick had spent a nice night, he had made a fair amount of cash after merely six hours, had beaten down a specist ram, got praised for it and even had the chance to tease his bunny. Nothing should have been able to spoil his night. That’s what he thought until Judy opened her mouth.

“Screw you!” she shouted. “I’m no slave! I’m a cadet at the Zootopia Police Academy!”

Baikai started to laugh like crazy, this startled her guards outside that who came to check on her. She then revealed Judy’s ‘secret’ with a bigger laugh, soon followed by all the mammals in the room… Except him and the angry bunny.

‘Please tell me this is a joke or we’re not going to make it out of this alive.’ He thought to himself. He knew Baika well enough to guess that she wouldn’t be pleased by a cop in her racket.

“Nicky you know how to choose them.” Said the female between hiccups. She looked really pleased and thankfully she didn’t believe the small bunny could possibly _be_ a cop. If she thought  so for only one second, her laughter would’ve sounded less reassuring and a lot more sadistic… And he didn’t want to hear such a thing…

“Yeah, I love them with a lot of sense of _humor_.” He made sure to make it sound like a threat to Judy. “Though I never thought she would go _this_ far…” His bad mood must have been obvious since Tom gave him a strong slap on the back while trying miserably not to laugh.

“Come on, Nick, we’re not fan of cops either but you have to admit I was pretty funny!” His face wore a genuine smile, ‘thank god he’s thicker than Baika.’ Thought the vulpine… Until Judy spoke again.

“I was serious!” she shouted in anger. The spark in her eye left little to no room for misinterpretation, she was serious and would stick to it.

Nick’s face wasn’t showing anything at the moment, but he was deeply scared. Once, the bigger mammals in the room could find it funny, twice, this was far less likely. He needed to silence her right away. “Okay now that’s enough, the best jokes are the shortest,” he said with a growl.

He had hoped this would be enough to startle the frail little bunny but it seemed all the alcohol in her body washed her fear away and made her talkative: “This is not a joke, _boss_!” She held a small grey finger in front of his snout. “When I’m making it out of here, I’m cuffing everyone!”

‘No please, not Dagon’s scale! please!’ he thought to himself. ‘I have to deal with a drunk bunny that shouts out loud that she’s a cop in the middle of a racket owned by a ruthless _and_ sadistic hyena, and she’s starting to call me the same names as Dagon, why Karma?’

“Carrots, you’re drunk, you really need to stop _now_.” He said while looking both at her and at Baika, who had stopped laughing and was now looking at them suspiciously. ‘Take the hint you damn rabbit,’ he added to himself.

The bunny _did_ take a hint, she noticed he was uncomfortable… but didn’t understood the reason. “What now, _fox_? Afraid that the big bad bunny is going to make you regret bringing her with you?” Drunk as she was, she started to push him away, not understanding that her words could be misunderstood.

“Okay, that’s it,” he said in a rush as he grabbed Judy’s arm. “Look Baika we were just passing by to say goodbye, we’ll get going now.” Judy started to struggle to get free but he held her with a fair amount of strength and pulled her toward the exit.

“Stop right there, Wilde.” He froze and slowly turned to face Baika… “Why the hurry? Are you afraid your girl may reveal something?” she  asked, less amused than before.

“She’s drunk, Baika; she doesn’t know what she’s saying… we had a few beers before coming… tiger sized beers.” He explained, hoping she would believe him.

“I know what I’m saying!” She shouted. “With the Mammal Inclusive Initiation even a bunny can become a cop!” Obviously, the alcohol had gotten the best of her and helped her speak her mind… “And this bunny here will be the first bunny cop of history! And you can be  sure the first thing I do when I graduate is to help close this racket!”

“Carrots you shut it _NOW_!” Nick yelled. If she kept speaking the situation would become unbearable and dangerous.

“Come on, Nicky,” Judy answered totally obvious to the angry predators surrounding them. “You’re not credible as the bad cop.” Nick understood she was referring to the _little_ incident she had with Dagon when the fox tried to protect her from the collar but to Baika and her crew it just sounded like Nick  had switched sides… Which was a dangerous thing to do in Undertopia.

“Nicky, heh?” Baika grunted. “bad cop… care to explain… _Nicky_?” This time, Baika sounded mad, ready to tear the fox’s face off with her claws. He had to find a way to cool the game.

“Baika, I made you a fair amount, do you really think I would have done such a thing if I was a cop? I would have called for reinforcements the moment I made it inside your casino.” This should have done it. He hoped that Baika would think about it, and that the kind reminder of how much money he helped her get would ease the tension.

“Gods **,** Nick you really _are_ the good cop,” Judy said with a playful tone. “You always talk your way out of trouble, that’s awesome!”

‘I guess we’ll have to run for our hides now…’ he though as Tom closed in and extended a paw to catch him.

“Explain, _now_!” he shouted  as he tried to grab him by the shirt.

Nick lifted the Hyena’s paw with his right one and sent his left fist in his opponent liver. The strength of the impact made the predator bend in half, his face at Nick’s height. The fox then slapped both his ears with his paws, this unbalanced Tom long enough for Nick to grab Judy’s paw and rush to the exit.

“Catch that son of a vixen!” Baika shouted at his back. He didn’t turn, nor did he said anything about the specist adjective. The only advantage was that Judy seemed to have awaken at the comment and understood something was wrong. He didn’t need to pull her anymore; she was running with him as they went through the casino and headed to the door that would lead them to the front.

Hopefully, the commotion they made slowed their pursuers and they made it to the front with troubles. Of course, had warned the guards waiting here because some were already waiting for them.

Nick dragged Judy to the dancefloor. Even if it was a front, some mammals were still enjoying the place so the little crown would be enough to hide the two small mammals.

 

 

 

He pulled Judy against him and started to ‘dance’ between the mammals around him, always checking where the guards were, which was easy because all the mammals moved away as they closed in. “What do you think you’re doing?!” asked the bunny in his arms, visibly annoyed with the proximity.

“Trying to save your hide after you blurted out that you were a cop in the middle of a gang that wants nothing more than beat cops to death when they get their paws on one…” He replied a bit harshly. This bunny was closer to make him kill in a single night than he himself had in his entire life, and he intended to make it change if he got the chance to make it out alive.

Following the movement of the small crowd that made way for the wolves and hyena to pass, Nick spotted that Tom had made it through the door that lead to the racket. He looked quite pissed and shouted at every mammal to stand where they were.

This could have been bad for Nick if Judy and him were tall mammals, but they were actually surrounded by bigger mammals so they kept moving to close the gap between them and the exit. Smiling, Nick noticed no one guarded the door, ‘They truly are hyenas,’ he thought with a smile. Unfortunately, it was still a bit far and they would have to run faster than their pursuers if they wanted to make it.

He looked at Judy who seemed to have the same thoughts as him. “It’s now or never, Carrots. You ready?”  She nodded in response and they both took a deep breath.

They had just started running that they heard Tom yell: “What the fuck are you doing?! They’re running away, after them!” Nick sped up, hoping Judy would be able to follow him. “Who’s guarding the door?!” Tom roared. It seemed he too had noticed no-one was between the small mammals and the exit.

Nick felt his heartbeat quicken as him bashed into the door to open it. ‘Freedom at last,’ he thought before remembering that they were still being followed. “Those who catch them will get a bonus!” He heard Tom shout.

Nick dashed through a small alley on his left, he could still hear Judy running behind him: ‘Maybe that cop thing is true, not many mammals can make such a run nowadays,’ he thought while fomenting a plan.

 

 

Not so far from where they were was a “whorehouse” called “The Vixen,” it was one of the places Dagon and him used to go to ‘blow off some steam’ from time to time. Wherever Dagon would be, Nick was sure he could be at the Vixen within a short time.

He dashed in another alley, by that time they had took many avenues and back alleys to lose their pursuers and Judy was still following him… Unlike Baika’s ‘boys’ that seemed to have given up. Yet Nick decided to stick to his original plan.

Nick took his phone out of his pocket and started to dial a number. 'Come on pick up, pick up!' he prayed inside.

"Answer you useless lizard!" He shouted as the phone started to ring. "Hurry up, Carrots," he added, barely turning when he heard her fall behind. "You don't want to get too far from me, right?" He hoped the ‘kind’ remember of the collar would be enough to motivate her.

Of course the bunny didn't reply but he heard her speed up.

"I don't know how you got this number, but you better be calling for a good reason." Came Dagon's voice followed by a 'bip'.

"Shit!" Nick yelled. "Listen; got into troubles at Baika's casino, I could really use some Dagonus ex machina here! Come find me at –" He was cut and yelped loudly as he felt a strong hit on the back of his head that sent him on the ground.

Laying groggy on the floor he tried to stand up again… Only to fail miserably: the hit had almost knocked him out, he was lucky to still be conscience. He felt something touching his pocket before pulling something out of it.

"Now, fox, it's funny how the tide turns..." Judy said before getting up with the collar's remote in her paw…

 

 

Judy POV

 

Judy had noticed their pursuer had started to fall behind after the third change of direction. Nick’s movements were clearly random to prevent anyone from cutting their path off. She decided it was time to act. He had his back turned towards  her and was dialing on his phone.

"Answer you useless lizard!" He shouted at his phone. "Hurry up, Carrots," he added, barely turning when she slowed to take a small run up. "You don't want to get too far from me right?" Her decision was made, this time she would get him back for everything he had done to her.

She rushed forward, jumped on the wall then to his head with full strength. It wasn’t the same strength she had put in her fight against the rhino instructor since she couldn’t use the ring’s rope’s elasticity but it was enough to send the fox flying.

He landed on the cold floor with a yelp. She rushed over to him and started to look for the collar’s remote. When she found it she slowly stood with pride. She had done it, she had freed herself from the fox and the lizard. Now she only needed to find the nearest police station and ask for help.

"Now, fox, it's funny how the tide turns..." She said to the groggy mammal laying down. She was about to remove the collar when something came at her with great speed and pinned her violently on the ground. She felt her grasp on the remote soften and let go of the precious device.

“Well, well, would you look at that…” Judy started to break from the inside, Tom had found them… Perhaps he wasn’t far when she attacked Nick; perhaps Nick knew they were close and that’s why he tried to call Dagon; perhaps they would never have caught them if she hadn’t tried to get away from Nick…

_You couldn’t trust the fox despite all he had done to you did for you?_

‘He’s responsible,’ she answered herself, ‘if his _friend_ hadn’t kitnapped me, I wouldn’t be here, and if he hadn’t brought me to that racked we wouldn’t have been chased down!’

_His friend kitnapped you without his knowledge. And he told you, several times, to stop bragging about being a cadet or threatening them with jail!_

Tom took the remote while a wolf ‘helped’ her stand up… and twisted her arm behind her back so she couldn’t fight. “Seriously, Nick?!” exclaimed the hyena as he walked to him. “Shock collar with a remote? This thing is cruel!” He added before cracking a laugh.

“Har Har, look who’s talking…” Nick answered. He struggled to get up so Tom caught him by his collar and lifted him a bit. He had a devious smile on his face as he did.

“You’re right, I love cruelty, why do you think I work for Baika?” He asked before answering himself: “Sure she’s hell of a female but deep down? I get to beat down mammals like that little ram who don’t know what’s their place…” He let go of Nick.

 

 

The fox was slowly standing up, still having a hard time standing on his leg. His back rested on the wall and he ran a paw on the back of his neck. “Look Tom, I’m sure we can talk this out…”

“You know for a fox you’re not really clever.” The bigger predator said. “You hit me in the chest and then run away? Looks like to me you have something to hide, huh?” Nick was about to answer when Tom’s paw met his face, sending the fox down once again.

_You know he could have avoided this if you didn’t hit him… He may have a head trauma right now…_

‘I didn’t want it to end like this, I just wanted to get rid of this collar!’ Judy answered her inner self.

“Don’t bother getting up again, Nick.” Tom warned the fox as he squatted in front of him. “Just tell me, what’s this ‘cadet putting us in jail thing’?” He looked almost bored, obviously asking questions wasn’t his favorite part of the job. Getting them however…

“That’s what I was trying to tell you before you started to use my head as a punching ball.” Grunted Nick before the hyena slapped him… Which didn’t stop him from teasing the bigger mammal: “I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself but could we skip to the moment I answer your questions?”

Tom lifted him from the floor and threw him at the wall. Nick stayed up with a cocky smile on his face: “You want me to stay down then you pull me up, decide yourself male!” This earned him a knee to the stomach which brought him to all fours as he tried not to throw up.

“You know what, Nick?” Tom had a large grin on his face. He slowly lifted his right paw and Judy could see him holding the remote in his paw, his thumb on the switch. “It’s not fun playing with you, I feel like we could go like this all day and yet that wouldn’t get me an answer…” He then turned to Judy and let a small laugh escape his toothy grin. “I’ll play with your girl there instead…”

“She’s MY property Tom, if you have a problem with her then talk to her owner!” growled Nick as he stood once again – much easier this time – and rested against the wall. Judy once more saw something behind his eyes, as she looked at him with a mix of relief and anger.

‘He does _not_ own me!’ she screamed internally, not stupid enough to let it out this time.

_He_ does _own you and he’s trying to save you the pain of this collar so shut it!_

 

“Then let’s talk, Nicky,” said the hyena, his thumb still on the switch, “but first…” He pressed the switch and Judy’s eyes watered before she could even feel the pain, she had brought this upon herself and she knew it.

Once more the pain was unbearable, she cried and fell down, the wolf had let go of her when he had understood what Tom was about to do. She curled instinctively into a ball as her throat burned her. After what felt like eternity the shock stopped, leaving her on the floor, crying.

“That’s fucking awesome, Nick!” Tom yelled. Judy couldn’t see him in due to the position she was in but she could hear how happy he was. “I want one for every mammal I beat down!” added the insane predator.

“Leave her alone you madmammal!” shouted Nick. She couldn’t see him either but she distinctively noticed the anger in his voice. Did he really care about her?

Sadly, Tom reacted the worse way he could. “Or what?” He simply asked and pressed the switch once more.

Pain erupted once more as Judy almost strangled herself in an attempt to chase the pain, her paw clasping her throat in a useless attempt to lesser a pain that was definitely too high. Even more tears flowed, her throat felt dryer than the sand blast course at the academy and her whole hide felt like it was on fire. When the pain stopped, her whole body was in pain and she slowly felt herself losing consciousness.

“Son of a bitch!” came Nick’s voice in a growl.

“You know what, Wilde? I’ll play with her a bit before killing her… Do you think she might enjoy a big cat?” Tom’s voice sounded far away the more she lost her focus.

The last thing Judy heard was a vicious snarl followed by the sound of one body tackling into another.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I just admit that Dagon is my deux ex machina? Yes, Yes I did… Does that mean he was the one who snaled? Spoiler!   
> You see, the problem with all those fluffy fanfic outside is that once I start reading one I can’t pull myself to harm my favorite fox and bunny… Huuu I’ll go beat up some kittens to fill my rage gauge for the next chapter.   
> Also I tried… I really tried to put a fight scene in this chapter… I always try! But I had to cut the chapter here; it was the best way to end it! Sooooo maybe they’ll be a big fight for the chapter 9… and wait ‘till Dagon comes back! I promise you a bloody mess!   
> Edit: I figured that when there is no fight scene Judy get shocked... Something's definitely wrong with me...  
> Until then, 
> 
> G4COD: Who's throwing rabbits!? You better stop; I'm half decent at shooting skeet, and I'll skin, gut, butcher and cook these things! Deep fried rabbit, so good Elmer Fudd wants my secret recipe.


	9. Savage fight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooo Just when I say I need to refill my rage gauge Fox in the Hen House release a new chapter of “Fighting true savagery”... Which of course made me reread the previous chapter… I think that did the trick, I think I’m ‘pissed’ enough! I promised you a fight? Well! Let’s kick some asses now!
> 
> By the way… I give you... Dagon!!! I may need a tissue right here, it was made by Ziegelzeig a fellow French and great artist, go look at his work on DA =) he’s amazing!

 

 

 

**Nick POV**

 

When Tom pressed the remote’s switch for the second time Nick snapped. He knew he was about to when he had felt his heartbeat rate grow higher. The stress he had felt when Judy had revealed she was a Cadet at the Zootopia police academy; the tension he had to put up with when he was in the crowded dancefloor; the heat of the run with Baika’s “boys” on their back; the hits he had received first from Judy then from Tom and then, the growing hate and hanger he had felt toward the hyena who tortured HIS bunny… It was surprising that he could have hold on so much before breaking.

He felt his control slip and let out a vicious snarl now; all he wanted was to tear the larger predator’s throat. The weakened state he was in as he tried to fight back the savage beast inside him vanished when he stopped resisting. His claws met the hyena’s face in a powerful swing which caused the bigger predator to fall back and scream in pain.

But Nick wasn’t done with him, he needed him dead, in a such a bloody mess that he could send him to baika in a bottle. So he jumped forward, shoving his shoulder in the hyena’s stomach which made him bend over and hold his arm on the source of the pain. Nick took his right arm and, using Tom’s lack of balance, he threw him down, not letting go of the arm.

He then proceeded to twist said arm so the elbow would be facing Tom’s back, put his right foot right under it, and pulled with all his strength, adding his weight in the process. A loud ‘crack’ was barely covered by Tom’s screaming as Nick broke his arm with a satisficing grin. Yet it wasn’t enough; he needed more, his blood was boiling inside his veins and he knew he wouldn’t stop until he had ripped the hyena’s heart out with his fangs.

He was about to claw Tom’s neck when the wolf next to them bashed him down and tried to subdue him. Unfortunately for the taller canid he had chosen to use his shoulder to push Nick away while wrapping his arms around him… which had left his right ear directly in front of Nick’s muzzle. Nick bit down, soon the taste of copper flowed in his mouth and he pulled. The wolf immediately let go of him, and held both of his paws to his limp ear.

Now free, Nick grabbed the wolf’s throat and started to tighten his grip. Pushing the bigger mammal away Nick forced him down and sat on his torso, using his weight to his advantage and strangling the poor wolf. He didn’t register the shouts next to him but was once more bashed by another wolf except that his this time the wolf had only pushed him away from his _prey_.

Nick started to circle around the wolf, snarling at his _prey_ which seemed genuinely scared of him. In his state, Nick was totally obvious to the fact he was walking on all fours, it just feel better this way. Easier, more efficient, perfect for _hunting_. He rushed forward and jumped at the wolf’s neck.

The bigger mammal was so scared that he tried to run away and stumbled on his friend, who was still laying down, and after a failed attempt to maintain his balance fell on his back. The next moment, Nick was on him, fangs all out as he slammed his jaw shut in an attempt to rip his foe’s throat out. Of course, the wolf wouldn’t have let him do it so he was trying to push him away with both paws, which left him no way to protect his face from Nick’s claws. Despite the larger canid managing to avoid his claws at first, Nick finally fell his claw dig in his flesh and heard him scream in pain, the next cry stronger than the previous after each strike.

This time, despite him mauling the face of his opponent, Nick saw something moving on his left and jumped away to avoid whatever was coming at him. When he landed and saw the threat his eyes focused on the wolf standing next to the one he was trying to skin alive with his claws. The wolf standing was holding a knife in his left paw and had his right one pressed on his right ear, blood dripping from it, tainting his brown fur with reddish blood.

The sight of blood made Nick’s own flow faster in his body and he slowly moved forward, snarling, waiting for the occasion to feast on it. Probably angered by the wound Nick had had inflicted him, the brown wolf launched an attack toward Nick, aiming at him with his knife. Unfortunately for him, since Nick was smaller than him and on all fours, he had to lean down to deliver the thrust which gave Nick enough time to jump on his right and jump at the wolf’s arm, biting it deep and shaking his head to tear the flesh apart like he had seen Dagon done before, his instinct mimicking his friend’s deadly fighting style.

He let go of the arm when he felt the wolf falling on him, he didn’t want the useless weight on him for the rest of the fight. Out of anger the wolf still tried to maul him with his right paw’s claws. Try as he might Nick was too fast for him and had already dropped on all fours and moved on his back. He bit down the bigger canid’s tail and pulled back, dragging the wolf who was now trying to walk backward without falling… which eventually happened.

Since the wolf’s neck was defenseless, Nick let go of his tail and jumped at it but when he was about to bite the flesh and feel the _sweet taste of blood_ in his mouth he felt something bash him once more. He felt on his back and tried to bite the threat that was holding him on the ground to the bone. Two other grips tightened around him, one holding his right arm when another was warped around his throat.

He tried to struggle free but didn’t move, the small part of his brain that wasn’t clouded in bloodlust registered one hyena pinning his body and left arm down, a wolf holding his right arm and at brown wolf strangling him. After a final attempt to break free, Nick finally let go and lost conscious.

 

He awoke in a room he immediately recognized as one of the private poker rooms for bigger sized mammals at Baika’s racket. While scanning the room he saw Judy, curved into a ball of grey fur far away from him. She was holding her legs pressed against her body her chin resting on them, her ears down behind her head and her dress in a mess.

‘Well, I have to do something or she’s going to break…’ he thought to himself. But when he tried to stand he noticed his paws were tied up behind his back.

“What the f-” he started then stopped mid-sentence because he felt something was preventing him from speaking. He froze from the shock for a few second his mind having trouble registering what was happening, old and unpleasant memories starting to surface. He started to have trouble breathing; felt his heartbeat rate increase once again and started to shiver. He finally shook his head, trying to free himself, at least from the muzzle that he was wearing.

Sadly, the small cage didn’t moved so he started to hit it against the couch he had been laying on. Since it didn’t move, he let himself fell on the ground and repeated the action on the hard floor. He didn’t stop when he felt something hot dripping on his face nor when he heard the faint cry of the bunny in the room.

_Bunny!_

‘What, Bunny?’ he managed to focus long enough to ask his inner self.

_She can remove the muzzle for you!_

Not waiting anymore, Nick moved himself toward the very Bunny that was responsible for all theses regretful events. But when he closed the gap between him and her, she screamed and ran away. In normal condition he would have asked himself why she was running away but right now he didn’t care, he needed this _doe_ to remove the muzzle.

He growled and tried once more to close the gap between them, this time he had the time to see the look of terror in her eyes before she ran to the other side of the room. Nick knew something was odd but in the state he was in he didn’t care, he would force this _prey_ to remove the muzzle.

“You better help me remove this muzzle because if you don’t and I still manage to get rid of it you’re going to regret it!” He snarled at her... Snarling being the right word because most of his words were those of a savage.

All the commotion they must have made somehow drew the attention of the mammals outside the room because soon after he had shout at _the prey_ three mammals stepped inside. Despite his agitated state Nick recognized Baika, as well as the two wolves that were following her. One being the one that had held him done while the other, a brown one was the one whose face he had clawed.

“Now, Nick I see -” Baika started before he cut her off.

“Remove this muzzle right now, Baika!” he snarled at her, ready to fight even if his chances to win were close to zero.

“Not after what you’ve done to my boys, Nicky…” she replied, shaking her head.

Nick walked at her, rage filling his guts, but before he could get too close, the two wolves caught him and tossed him away. He stood and tried to walk again but this time, the brown wolf took of a nightstick Nick recognized as his own and hit him on his left leg, forcing him to kneel from the pain. When he looked up, he saw Baika was sitting on one of the comfortable couch of the room.

“I think you owe us a few explanations, Nicky…” she stated as if all of this was natural. “First, the cop thing, then you beating down three of my Boys and then… This.” she gestured toward him.

“I am not talking unless you remove this muzzle!” he managed to answer rather than snarl. He could give her a few pieces of information and maybe try to talk his way out this time.

“And I’m not taking it off unless I’m sure you’re not going to maul me, Nicky…” she replied while crossing her arms, she had all the time after all, but not him.

“I said remove it, you bitch!” He jumped forward and was greeted by poorly executed nightstick swing in the face that still sent him to the ground once more. He felt the muzzle become less tight and had to restrain a grin.

Baika stood and looked at him with a well faked look of concern on her face: “It’s sad you don’t want to open up to me, Nick... Maybe I’ll just leave you here and wait for you to… soften?” she said with a grin before turning her back at him, and leaving the room followed by the two wolves.

The brown one took the opportunity to kick his side before leaving ‘Some way to get revenge for what I did to him, I guess…’ thought Nick.

 

When the door closed Nick sat up, deeply breathing. Baika’s visit had at least done him some good. He had managed to calm done and the hit he had received on the face managed to loosen the muzzle by a bit. He looked at Judy who had been pressing herself in the farthest corner away from him. She was still shaking but when their eyes crossed he didn’t saw the same fear in them. Of course she was still afraid but, seemingly not of him anymore.

“Carrots? Are you okay?” he asked, surprised of how genuine his own tone was.

She looked away, not saying anything, not moving. He decided to let her alone for now and instead worked on pulling the muzzle away.

He started to look around the room, looking for something he could use to remove the muzzle and finally set his choice on an armchair. Its arms were curved in a small loop that had a smaller end. He bent down, slides one of the loosest straps of the muzzle under it and started to pull. Despite the pain he was in he kept pulling on the strap until it felt loose enough for the muzzle to not be pressed firmly against his face.

Nick repeated the operation with each of the three strap multiples times until they were all loose enough for him not to feel the cage pressing on his snout. He bent down one last time and put the loop of the armchair’s _arm_ behind his head. He slid it under the last strap and pulled once more. This time the cage scratched his lower jaw and the wooden arm dig its way through his head as he pulled even more.

After what felt like an eternity of muscular tension, the strap finally reached the point where his head wasn’t holding it anymore and finally let go of him. He fell down as well as the chair and took a deep breath as if the muzzle had kept him from breathing fresh air. He stood up, looked at the muzzle on the floor and stomped it for good measure before turning to Judy…

 

 

**Judy’s POV**

 

 

Judy had awake when she was carried back to Baika’s racket with her throat dry and whole body sore. When she had unconsciously struggled to break free from whoever was carrying her she hears the female hyena chuckle and had been put down. Of course in her weakened state she had immediately fallen. When sitting on the ground with Baika in front of her she had the time to see some of her henchmammals pass them. Three of them were badly beaten down including Tom, the hyena that had used the shock collar on her... twice. His arm was twisted in an unnatural way and his face was wearing the same scars she had worn years ago after her fight with Gideon.

“Your owner did that…” Baika said with a tender smile that was far scarier than her angered face. Just the thought of how easily she could turn from a tender female caring about her ‘Boys’ to a brutal and sadistic mammal that enjoyed breaking Ram’s horn.

Seeing she didn’t replied, Baika ‘helped’ her stand and pushed her, obviously tired of carrying her around, resuming their walk. “You know something about it?” she asked.

Once more Judy didn’t say a word, she simply shook her head, hoping it would be enough for the predator. She heard Baika grunt in her back, visibly not pleased with the answer, but none of the females broke the silence until they had reached a door in the, now deserted, racket, leading to some kind of private salon for big mammals, probably lions or tigers.  

 

While being pushed inside a immense fear crept upon Judy, she still had the collar around her neck and if the one holding the remote went too far from her… “Wait!” She screamed when Baika was about to leave, her weak voice almost sounded like she was crying.

“Please remove this collar.” she begged the bigger female.

“Why should I do that?” Baika asked, amused of her distress. “So you can get away without standing too far away from its remote?”

_She knows… you brought this upon yourself…_

“Let’s see how far away from it you can be before you get shocked, shall we?” the hyena added with a devious smile as she gave the remote to one wolf.

Judy started to cry as the wolf walked away…

_four feet… eight feet… twelve…_

When the wolf reached sixteen feet away the collar beeped a warning and five seconds later the shock followed. Judy fell down, crying in pain and, after the usual struggle to gasp for air, had stayed curved into a ball… She had found herself in this position a bit too often in the last… whatever it was. Hours, days or even a month, she was unable to tell after all.

Another beep from the collar shook her from her thoughts and she opened her eyes, pleading at Baika to end the torture.

“Come back,” said the hyena, “you stay here and guard the door, send someone get me when the fox awake.” The wolf nodded and Baika closed the door, leaving her and Nick - apparently someone had tied him down and had put a muzzle on him - alone in the room.

_Alone… with the fox you betrayed… kitnaped by a crazy hyena that gets off with torture... you’ll be lucky if you die fast…_

Tears began to flow and she slowly put herself in the farthest corner of the room, trying to make herself as small as possible and cried until no tears flowed anymore.

 

Judy had started to fall asleep when a certain fox awoke, visibly less than pleased to be tied down.

“What the f-” he started but cut himself off at mid-sentence, looking down at the muzzle he was wearing. Judy saw the change in his behavior, usually cool and easy going he suddenly started to shake his head then hit it on the couch. He let himself fall from the couch and repeated his action on the ground. Judy saw with a mix of fascination and fear how the _predator_ in the room was hitting his own head on the floor, blood starting to drip of his fur in the process.

Afraid that he might definitely hurt himself Judy meeped… and suddenly regretted her action. The green eyes that looked at her weren’t those of the fox she had met several hours ago… They were still green of course but his pupils were shaped in fends. Those were the eyes of a _savage predator_ , ready to kill his _prey_ … her…

He stood in a hurry and walked at her, anger and madness in his eyes. ‘He’s going to kill me!’ she thought as she let go a scream and ran away.

_After all you’ve done to him you can’t be surprised…_

He growled and followed her, his anger was now tangible and she was afraid that, despite the muzzle and his paws tied in his back, he would _maul_ her. She dashed away once more which, _surprisingly_ , angered him even more.

“You better help me remove this muzzle because if you don’t and I still manage to get rid of it you’re going to regret it!” he said, anger filling his voice so much it seemed like it was more snarling than talking.

There was no way she was going to do as he asked, not when the muzzle was the only thing preventing him from ripping her heart out with his fangs. ‘Fortunately’, Baika and some of her henchmammals entered the room, dragging the fox’s attention away from her.

After some troubles in which Nick ended up with a nightstick in his face, and clearly showed he wanted the muzzle off his face, Baika left without even looking at her. When alone, Nick stood up, a little groggy from the hit he took and carefully analyzed his surrounding as if it was the first time he was seeing it.

After a short time she saw him jump on one of an armchair and try to remove the muzzle alone. Only after maybe five minutes did he ‘finally’ manage to remove the muzzle, jump down from the chair and stomp on the muzzle, destroying the small cage.

 

He then turned to her with his signature smirk. “ _Caaaaaarooooots_ …” His voice sounded almost happy, too happy to be honest… almost insane… which made her shiver. “Come on now, playtime is over, I need your help to get us out of _heeeere_ …” She felt her fur stand on end from fear and apprehension, she clearly remembered his threat earlier…

_‘You better help me remove this muzzle because if you don’t and I still manage to get rid of it you’re going to regret it’… He warned you… Now it’s time to pay…_

“I’m sorry, please, _please-”_ she tried

“Your collar, you have a lock pin hidden in it, could you _please_ give it to me?” He cut her, his voice less pleasant this time but, strangely to her relief, more honest.

She stood there in shock. Since when did she have that? Why wasn’t she aware of it sooner?

“Look, if you’re afraid of me, just pull it out, put in on the ground and I’ll come and get it myself…” he sighed visibly annoyed by her lack of reaction. “On the left side of the collar, under the fabric,” he said when she started looking for it. “...Thaaat’s it!” he added when she took it in her paw.

“How can I be sure you won’t try to attack me when you’re free?” she asked.

“Well, first _if_ I wanted to attack you right now I would uses my teeth instead of my paws and secondly, we need each other to get out of the mess _you_ put us through… _twice…_ ” he answered, his smirk growing wider.

She feel remorse hit her like a cold blade in the stomach, he was right, she could have tried as much as she wanted she could not reject it on him. She slowly walked to him despite her still lingering fear for him. Standing in front of him she found herself looking deep inside his emerald eyes. His eyes were those of a civilized mammal once again and carried in them compassion…

_You gonna keep staring for how long? I know he has pretty eyes but still…_

Her own eyes widened at the thought and quickly looked away. She heard him sigh and see him turn his back to her. “Alright, give it to me, Carrots.” he said moving his right paw in a grabbing motion. She obliged and looked as he picked the lock of the pawcuffs using his claw and the lock pin without even looking at it. After a short time she heard a small ‘click’ and one cuff opened. He focused on the other for less than ten seconds and a second ‘click’ signaled to her that Nick was finally free.

He turned back at her and lock his eyes with hers until she spoke: “I’m sorry I-” he cut her off with a slap. It wasn’t painful at all, after all she had suffered it was nothing but it forced her to realise he hadn’t forgiven her for what she had done. She started to fear that, if he had the remote he would have used it instead of his paw. Despite being exhausted and startled she still refused to cry in front of him. She knew he had been right to punish her like that, she knew she deserved more but couldn’t accept it.

She then felt his arm around her, pulling her against his chest. “There, there... You bunnies, so emotional…” This time she definitely let go and cried in his arm, accepting that everything was her doing and surrendering to the only one that could protect her.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry…” she repeated and sobbed. She had heard his specist comment, she should have been angry at him for it but she couldn’t. Right now she was just happy he had forgave her, even if just a little.

“Now I’ll need your full focus alright?” he asked as he separated himself from her. A part of her was sad that he had broken the contact but she understood. If they wanted to leave this place alive she needed to focus and stop being emotional. She wiped her tears and locked eyes with him.

When she did he smiled and nodded. “Alright, I need you to draw their attention inside, think you can do that?” She nodded back and Nick headed to the door. He stood behind it and signaled her to act.

“No! No!” she screamed her own voice a little too realistic for her own taste. “Get away from me!” She saw Nick make a frown and roll his eyes. “What are you doing?!”

“What’s going on in there?” came a voice from the other side of the door.

“He’s insane! Please help me!” She cried earning one more eye roll from the vulpine.

“Shit!” said the voice. “Go get Baika, I’ll take a look!”

 

At the sound of the door unlocking Nick waved his paw at Judy, telling her to come to him. She noticed the savage light in his eye was back but also that he was wearing a large grin… The door opened hastily, the brown wolf heading inside in a hurry, probably startled by her too good acting.

As he was running forward, Nick grabbed his left paw and used the wolf’s momentum to rotate on himself, forcing the bigger mammal to follow his ‘lead’ and crashing into the wall. When he tried to pull back, Nick blocked his leg and made him fall, his head hitting the ground. Without a second thought, Nick let himself fall on the wolf; he used his own weight and the speed of the fall to hit him on the throat with his elbow.

The bigger predator let out a strangled cry before Nick was on him. He punched him once with his left paw, a second time with his right one, and hit his forehead with his elbow, putting his weight and his left arm’s strength in the strike, knocking the wolf out.

The ‘fight’ had been fast: it had lasted less than seven seconds and Nick was already looking inside the poor mammal’s pocket, finding the remote without trouble. “Hurry!” she growled and rushed outside.

Whatever time it was, the racket was empty as she and the fox were running through it, which proved to be easy to run away from… but also to be spotted easier as proved when, they passed the door that leaded to the front.

“What the fuck?! They’re escaping! Catch them! And stand up, you pussy! Aren’t you mad about being beaten by a fox!” came a voice Judy recognized as Baika’s.

By the time she had finished shouting her orders, Nick and her were already on top of the stairs, fueled by a feeling she had learned to suppress over her training at the academy: fear. Fear of what could happen to her if she was caught and, to her own surprise, fear of what could happen to the vulpine running in front of her… on all four.

“Carrots!” she looked in front of her and saw a grey wolf running at them from the door. “Get him!” shouted Nick as he rushed forward directly to the door.

Since they were obviously closed Nick needed to find the keys to open the front door. He seemed to know exactly where they were but the presence of the wolf could be troublesome for them. It was her job to take care of obstacle in front of them. She HAD knocked down a rhino after all even if a certain _lizard_ seemed to have made his life goal to make her forget about it.

She ducked, avoiding a strike from the wolf’s claws and kicked him on the back, easily kicking him a few feet away. He fell down but quickly stood back, ready to fight… only to have his snout make acquaintance with her feet. His head snapped back as he let go with a painful whine. She couldn’t help but feel bad for him. Baika had been mad at the brown wolf for getting beaten by Nick, what would she think of this one once she would find he had been knocked down by a bunny?

_Not your problem, focus on getting out of here alive!_

“Carrots!” Nick shouted as more of Baika Henchmammals urged in the room. She turned and saw the canid waiting for her before the opened door.

She rushed forward with all she had, not caring about the mammals behind her. Nick waited until she closed the gap between them and shut the door close after she had passed it, rushing after her. Of course the door wouldn’t hold their pursuer for long but at least it would give them a few seconds head start, enough to miss them if they were lucky.

However this time Nick - who had managed to run faster than her and was now leading the way - didn’t run through the small alley, he instead ran forward, not caring about the mammals they encountered… In fact they all seemed rather undisturbed about it, as this this kind of things were common on Undertopia.

“This time I’m going to skin you alive, Fox!” Judy turned and saw the brown wolf closing in, followed by a hyena and a grey and white wolf.

As an answer Nick accelerated and finally went to a small alley. Judy followed once more, not wanting to get caught by the infuriated wolf. She almost lost track of Nick after the third change of alleys but then bumped into his back and fell on the ground. When she looked in front of her she saw two hyena cutting their escape out, both armed with knives.

Preparing to turn away and run she froze when she saw their pursuers slowly walking toward them, having drawn their weapons as well.

“Wilde, Wilde, Wilde…” Said the wolf. “Did you really though that you were the only one who knew your way around the street?” His was hitting the palm of his paw with the same nightstick he had used to hit Nick’s face earlier. Visibly eager to do it again…

“I’m sure we can find an arrangement, wolfy.” Nick replied his voice calm despite his feral eyes. “No need to fight once more... if I recall it went pretty bad for you last time…” As he said that he extended his paw, and showed his claws; confirming what Judy had thought: he was responsible for the wolf’s fresh wounds.

“Not this time, _fox_ , you’re surrounded and no surprise attacks this time.” He snarled at him, baring his fangs at him in which Nick answered the same way.

Slowly, the five mammals closed in, their postures told Judy they weren’t here to take them alive this time. Something in the way they moved and the extreme cautious they all had proved _something_ had happen when she was out and that those mammals would do anything to prevent it from happening again.

She got ready, back to back with the fox, him facing the two wolves and the hyena, her facing the two hyenas. A few more feet and they would be close enough for her to try to jump and kick them off but suddenly they stopped moving, a look of pure shock and unbelieving on their faces. She turned to see what they were glancing at and froze as well.

Standing behind the three predators Nick was about to fight was a giant _lizard._ His duster coat open, falling from his shoulders, revealing his body. Judging by the way his chest moved and his half open mouth he had ran not so long ago… But what was fearsome to the bunny that knew him, even a bit, was his stance… A bit curved, both his arms raised - preventing his duster to fall completely.

“Need some help boss?” asked the giant lizard, a mad smile creeping its way on his face as he ‘casually’ walked forward.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my GOD yes! yes! yes! (Get that thought out of your mind right now!) Dagon is back!!! I missed my Reptile!
> 
> And I saw you there, sitting in the back, yeah I’m talking to you: “ho no! Not another ‘Nick has gone savage fanfic!’ ” Well first of all, no, he’s not savage, he share some characteristics with them but not all. And secondly I’ll have you know those stories are the best!!!
> 
> So, sorry about the late release, G4Cod personal things to deal with and couldn’t help me with this chapter. I think he still managed to hunt all the typo down though =)
> 
> Now then, don’t forget to comment! Until next time!


	10. Dagon's return

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah Dagon is back! It's the occasion to try something I've never written (well at least never published, right G4COD?) [G4COD suppresses a shudder]: something a little smutty So… NSFW; I'll put *** before and after the smutty part so those of you who don't like it aren't forced to read it. If I manage well and you guys like it, maybe I'll put more of it in later. But don't worry; this story will remain kind of violent and twisted!
> 
> Also, tenth chapter! Isn't that awesome, I made it this far and so did you, thank you guys for sticking with me this long and thank G4Cod for working on this with me, I would never have come this far without your help pal!

Dagon POV

.

There were many differences between mammals and reptiles. First of course would've been the fur; Dagon loved the feeling of mammal's fur between his claws, he loved the way their fur brushed against his scales when they ruted and he loved to hold on to it while taking them from the back.

Then there were their sexual habits, females reptiles were keen to bite and scratch during sexual intercourses and males had to subdue them using force… It helped that the males were almost twice as big as the females but that never prevented a few nasty bites. Even if he liked to play it rough - he _was_ a male after all - it was a good thing that he didn't need to almost maul a female to have his way with her from time to time... not that he ever had to fight to get his way with any female, he had some… _advantages_ when he was still in Reptilia…

The thought of his homeland made him frown but he hastily pushed away such thought, focusing on the white vixen resting on top of him. She had asked for quite the attention before he could fit in her. But after a taste of foreplay? Oh gods how much he had loved the way her flesh had wrapped against his length, the scream she had made when he had made her bend or the way she had moved when, tired after the fourth time, he had let her do the job.

He focussed on the heat her body was giving him... another great thing about mammals was their hot blooded nature. Since reptiles were cold blooded, they were particularly slow in the morning and most of them were inactive during the night. Even if his species _was_ different and superior to any other kind of reptile, he still had some reminiscence of their common weaknesses. He had always enjoyed waking up with a hot fluffy pillow near him after a tough night… or day for all it mattered to him. He felt a hungry smile creep its way to his face when he remembered their 'little' time together.

This vixen, whatever-was-her-name, had finished her shift earlier and led him to her room. She had started to slowly get rid of his clothes, making sure to check each part of his body, rubbing her padded paws - one more great thing about mammals and, more precisely, predators - on his muscles, studying him. He let her, enjoying the effect his build had on her, occasionally tasting the air with his forked tongue. When she had satisfied her curiosity - and completely undressed him - she had him lie face down on the bed, sat on his back and had started to massage him for a while. 'I must remember to thank the madrone for telling her about my tastes,' he had thought at that moment.

After a short time, he had felt her massaging lower and lower until she had reached his tail and stopped. Nick had alway told him that touching a fox's tail was something quite intimate and he guessed the vixen was wondering if he would allow her to massage his.

To cut it short, he had simply used his tail to force her to get down, she had gently abided and sat next to him, waiting for his command. He had caught the taste of fear in the air when she had looked at his growing shaft and had decided to suppress it as quick as he could; if he had wanted to enjoy her, he couldn't have her all tensed up or he would've been unable to get in her.

He had leaned down, showed her how tender he could be; fighting his own nature that pushed him to bite her, claw her, make her bend; while he removed her clothes, revealing her body and running his fingers through her fur.

He had felt her tense up when he had closed his mouth to her chest but she was quick to relax after he started to uses his tongue, slimmer and longer than a mammal's but also more flexible, more prone to wrap around her… He had refused himself the use of his teeth, knowing that even a small bite, considering their razor's edge, would have pierced her skin. Instead he had focussed on his tongue, kissing her fur and occasionally sucking her nipples.

He could tell by his taste that this female hadn't 'worked' this night so he was quite pleased to know that he could go all out on her. His kissing had lead him between her thighs, where a much stronger taste had been waiting for him.

Surely the female in front of him hadn't experienced a reptile tongue before but the way she moaned had told him that she had liked every way he was using it, from licking her clitoris to sticking it deeply in her. Only when she had shivered did he stopped, denying her the orgasm he had spent twenty minutes building in her… after all _he_ was the one that needed to be served.

.

When he had stood, he had let her clitoris slide between the teeth of his lower jaw so she could feel them on her intimity, he had tasted her arousal skyrocket once more, almost to orgasm but once more, it wasn't enough… He could feel her burning longing, but he needed her more than ready so he knew she would have to experience even stronger arousal for him to fit in.

He had stood on his knee, in all his glory in front of her, his shaft in front of her head, waiting for her to return the favor. Which she had done, taking him with one paw she had gently rubbed it up and down. 'Bless the softness of a mammal's paw,' he had thought when she had started to work him a bit.

After a few strokes she had held his length with both paws and took a small taste of the tip. He had put his right paw on her head to encourage her, their eyes had meet for the first time and she had locked her blue ones with his as she had opened her mouth to take him inside.

She made sure not to touch him until she had reached as far as she could take him - he felt her hot breath on his shaft and had to resist forcing his way down her throat - then she had closed her mouth on him, wrapping him with her hot, soft and wet tongue. On this matter, Canids were close to reptiles: they had a long tongue and the way their jaw was designed allowed them to reach further than most animals.

She had then pulled back, sucking him, and let go of him with a small kiss on the tip, the whole time she hadn't taken her eyes from his… And she didn't do it either when she leaned back on him, letting her lips and tongue caress his length.

When she had worked on him he had noticed she had started pleasuring herself when their eyes parted, probably still unsatisfied after he had denied her. He recalled it had amused him and filled him with pride, she was the one supposed to please _him_ and yet he had been good enough to make her want him… But he wasn't kind enough to let her.

With his left paw he had reached for her right arm and pulled her hand on his shaft, while using his right one he had forced her to lean further onto his shaft. She had slightly whined when he had done it which had him even more aroused. He forced his way it her mouth, starting to move instead of just letting her do the job but when he was about to release himself she had managed to slip away, paying him back for what he had done to her earlier.

It was at this moment his instincts kicked back in. She had made a faint yet unconvincing attempt to run away when he had moved to catch her and forced her to lay on her back. Taking his shaft in his right paw he had used it to tease her entrance while his left one was pinning her down on the bed, pressing against her chest with almost all his weight on her, making it hard for her to breath.

.

He had had a hard time trying to control himself, instead of shoving his length all the way in her, as he had tasted the mixture of her fear and arousal in the air. He had felt her rock her hips up to meet him, but each time her sex had started to suck his inside he had pulled back, pressing more on her, depriving her and denying her even more.

She had finally begged him to take her in a faint voice, deprived from air but full of need. It had been the first time she had spoke to him and was the sign he had waited for.

He had leaned on her, just the tip of his shaft to see if she could take him. The look on her face, a mix of pleasure, pain, longing and fear, had his arousal skyrocket. Feeling his control slip he shoved himself in her in one trust; he had slightly growled when he had noticed he couldn't fit entirely in her but quickly focussed back on her.

She had seemed in ecstasy, either way she never had a great experience with males or he had done the perfect job teasing and denying her so much. When he had pulled back, he had retrieved his paw from her, letting her take a full breath of air… before pushing himself back in her. She gave a loud moan, making it clear she had enjoyed the treatment; he kept going in and out of her for a short time before changing position.

Since he was far bigger than her, he had to bend down so he could reach her smaller figure… and he didn't like it. So he had pulled her while sitting down, his shaft still inside her and let her down on him. She had let out a startled cry at first but she had soon enjoyed the way he had held her, one paw beneath her ass and one on her back. Considering his strength he had no trouble moving her up and down, easily doing all the work, until she had begun to tighten around him. Her orgasm had triggered his when she had squeezed around his shaft and moaned an ultimate time. He had clenched all his muscles pulling her against his torso with, maybe, a bit too much strength out of reflex - his species' females tended to be a little dangerous at this moment of the relation - but she had not complained judging by the heavy pants and satisfied sigh she gave.

He could have let her rest, maybe leave… but reptiles had evolved to have crazier sex, easily able to handle three times in a row without rest. He didn't know how to explain it, but it had something to do with the fact that sex had always been more or less frustrating for reptiles… It was an action meant purely for reproduction, once the female was 'pregnant' they didn't have sex until the next year. Now, however, they tended to seek this pleasure they had deprived themselves from during their most primal ages. And after just one time, as pleasant as it had been, he had needed more.

It was only after four more times, after she had finished riding him and collapsing on him, that he had felt satisfied and rested a bit.

Right now, after resting for an hour, taking heat from the small furred body on him, he felt that he was ready for round six. His tongue darted out of his mouth, tasting the air around them, he felt aroused again and clapped his jaw shut in an hungry way - like any good reptilian male would do to say he was ready for some intimacy- only for him to pierce the small membrane that was on top of his regrowing teeth.

The coppery taste of blood dripping in his mouth sent all of his senses skyrocketing. He tossed the vixen away and stood away from her. The taste for blood was a curse he had been forced to inflict on himself and tended to make him have unreasonable _tastes_ …

The vixen looked at him, a bit hurt from the treatment he had inflicted her, but of course she didn't knew that he had done that to prevent himself from _mauling_ her.

Now any thought of intercourse had vanished from his brain, instead he needed to get some fresh air, the _taste_ of sex and _blood_ having a bad effect on his mood. He put his clothes back and looked at his phone to check the time… and found a message from Nick.

.

He put the phone near his 'ear' and played the record: "Shit!" Nick yelled, which was a bad sign, Nick rarely cursed... "Listen; got into trouble at Baika's casino, I could really use some Dagonus ex machina here! Come find me at –" he cut himself off with a loud yelp, and Dagon could hear the phone fall. What had followed had been an incomprehensible mess in which he was sure he had heard the bunny scream in pain and Nick growl.

He dashed out of the room, leaving the vixen he had spent some time with alone, not even giving her a look. He came across the red vixen that owned the place, she was talking with an almost undressed Hyena. He grabbed her by the arm and locked eyes with her. "Baika!" he snarled. "Does it ring any bells?"

She looked at him with a mix shock and pure fear. "Y-You-You're… B-Blood?!" she asked, probably afraid for one of her girls life.

"Never mind that," he growled. "Baika!" he gave her a few shakes.

"She runs a racket a few streets away from here," said the hyena next to them, "but I don't think she's open during the day…"

He let go of the vixen and turned to the hyena… which seemed to regret dragging his attention to her… "Where?"

.

He found himself running through the streets as fast as he could. The hyena had been quite precise, despite her obvious fear, and he hoped she hadn't told him some lies or he would be too late. Hell! If he wasn't already…

Running through the streets he bumped into many bypassers, he swore he could have heard one threaten him with death but he ignored them, he had a more urgent matter. Then he caught the glimpse of a red furred mammal running into a small alley, followed by a bunny and soon enough several hyenas and wolves.

He rushed after them, not even noticing that at this point, he had his duster coat open and his hood down, revealing his species to whoever passed by. He stopped when the alley splitted, not seeing any fox or rabbit nor wolf or hyena, and he tasted the air a few times and followed the trace. At the corner of the alley he saw Nick and the bunny surrounded by wolves and hyenas.

Adrenaline was still high in his veins but he forced himself to calm down. _Yes_ , he would _beat them down_. _Yes_ , he would _kill_ them. _Yes_ he would _send their morsels_ to their boss! But right now he needed to be perfectly placed to do so.

"Need some help, boss?" he asked as he casually walked towards them.

"May I know what took you so long?" asked Nick in an angry tone.

"I think the real question is _who_ …" He replied with a grin of his own.

"GREAT!" the fox shouted. "Now can we head home? I really need a shower." He asked as if they weren't surrounded anymore.

"Yeah," he replied as his tongue darted out of his mouth… and made its way back inside as he frowned. "You're right, you taste like garbage, boss," he replied as his tongue darted out of his mouth again.

He turned and walked toward the three predators he had passed earlier as if they didn't exist… He didn't want to frighten them so he walked casually. When he was at arm's reach from them, he saw the hyena on his left shiver and move in an attempt to make way… but Dagon didn't want him to move away, he wanted him to stand where he was… to kill him.

.

The alley was rather narrow, his opponent could not escape easily neither would they be able to take advantage of their numbers, or avoid his hits… He could go all out, without _fear_ of killing somemammal… because that was _precisely_ the goal.

He extended his left paw, his fist connected with the hyena's temple, while at the same time he grabbed the wolf that was at his right with his other paw and pulled him against his right knee, he felt his whole snout, jaw and then face break under the strength he had used. He let go of the wolf and turned while putting his foot back on the ground. Using the energy he had accumulated, he slammed his tail against the hyena's face - one is never too sure - throwing him at the brown wolf behind him. He felt his foe's head twist more than it should have and felt proud about it… He didn't care about the brown wolf, by the time he'd have taken care of the two hyenas behind him, he would be ready to face him.

He turned and his eyes locked with Nick's for a quarter of second before Nick pushed the bunny down along with himself as he jumped forward. He caught the two hyenas that had been standing behind Nick - the one on his left by the neck, the other one by the jaw - and forced them to fall back, using his strength and his weight to make them land as hard as he could.

The hyena he had on his left hit the ground badly while the other had managed to grab his paw in an attempt to pull it away. He didn't give him the time to do so, he lifted him immediately, releasing the other one, still groggy from the hit, and cracked his head against the wall. The jaw probably dislocated and he felt the mammal's grip on his arm lesser, the hyena must've fainted from the pain. In the same time, he crushed the laying hyena's throat with his heel. He felt flesh and cartilage break under his foot.

As he tossed the unconscious hyena aside to face his last opponent, he saw him running away like a coward. Still in a bloodlust and wanting none to be left alive he slowly reached inside his duster coat...

.

Judy POV

.

Judy didn't know what to feel anymore. On one paw, Dagon's presence would likely give them the advantage in this fight - the lizard was far bigger than the tallest wolf after all. But on the other one, if he knew what she had done to Nick, she would be more likely to feel his wrath than those mobsters…

_He obeys the fox, if you are good to the fox then he will tell him to be good to you too!_ screamed her instincts.

'But I did horribles things to him!' she replied to her inner voice, her throat constricting in fear.

_Then pray he doesn't hold a grudge against you..._

He closed the distance between them, passing through the brown shattered-face-having wolf, the hyena and another grey and white wolf facing Nick to stand before them. No one had dared to move, the sight of the giant lizard making everyone freeze in fear.

"May I know what took you so long?" asked Nick in an angry tone.

"I think the real question is _who_ …" He replied with a grin of his own.

"GREAT!" the fox shouted, "Now can we head home? I really need a shower." he asked as if they weren't surrounded anymore.

"Yeah, you're right. You taste like garbage, boss." The lizard joked… Or not totally, foxes were known to have strong body odor but she had to admit he smelled rather strong.

She saw him turn around and walk away just as if nothing happened, but when he got close to the three predators all hell broke loose.

.

The hyena standing on his left shivered when he was at arm's reach and tried to hold his knife in front of the lizard… Who sent him flying with a backhanded swing with his left fist, in the same time he grabbed the grey and white wolf by the head and forced him to bend. His right knee meet the mammal's snout at full force, sending an echo of bone crushing through the alley.

Putting his foot back on the ground he turned on himself, using his tail to hit the hyena's face before he could land back. The force of the impact sent him flying and he landed on the brown shattered-face wolf… And that was the last thing she saw of the fight, because while doing so, the lizard had turned toward them and jumped. Nick forced her down and the flying monster went over them. She heard a few nasty noises, one she recognized as body hitting the ground… then the wall…

She saw the brown wolf stand, frozen for a second, and then run away. He had made it a few steps when she heard a loud " _BANG_ " from behind her… Then everything went silent. She saw everything in slow motion: blood gushing from the wolf's back, then front, the way his foot tried to carry him despite the impact, the way he fell slowly and landed face down, the blood falling as slowly like rain…

.

She did not hear or fell Nick stand, nor did she hear him talk to her, he tried to force her to look at him but her gaze was always drawn to the lifeless body of the wolf. She felt him slap her, maybe in an attempt to draw her attention back to him but she couldn't focus. 'This is what awaits me, a brutal death in the middle of a dark, disgusting alley,' she thought… Until she heard another "BANG".

All her senses shot awake, as she she had woken up late to go to school, now fully alert she looked at the source of the noise and saw the lizard, reloading a unusually, and likely illegally, short, sawn-off _shotgun._

"What are you doing?!" she shouted in a mix of fear and disgust. She had totally forgotten that he could kill her at any moment if he wanted to… with or without the weapon…

"Taking care of the witness and showing pity," he answered.

"Pity?" she repeated. "How?!"

"Calm down, Carrots," said Nick pulling her up.

"I am perfectly calm," she shot back at him… Only to earn another slap. She slowly pulled her paw to her cheek, freezing from the shock… Indeed she hadn't been calm and _that_ had made her cool down.

"Look at them," he replied as if nothing had happened. So she forced to do as ordered and noticed how badly injured they were: The grey and white wolf's face was nothing more that a bloody mess of flesh and bone and the Hyena lying next to him had his neck twisted in a unnatural way. When she turned, she saw the bloody corpse of one hyena, probably the one the lizard had shot, the other one could have looked perfectly fine if it wasn't for the way he was suffocating, with both paw on his throat. They were all already at death's door.

Unable to stand the carnage next to her, she took a few steps and threw up in a nearby trash bin, with Nick patting her back and holding her ears. None of them reacted when they heard another bang, then a second and, after a short time, a third, meaning the lizard had finished his business.

She felt tears building up, the day had been a rollercoaster of emotion for her and _this_ was the biggest spinning loop she had ever had to face in her whole life...

.

"Hey, hey, Carrots?" Nick spoke softly.

"Look at me okay?" he forced her to lock eyes with him and took out a handkerchief that he used to wipe her face. "Let's make a deal, alright?" he asked, his voice rather low. Seeing as she didn't reply, he continued. "I won't tell Dagon about your little stunt from earlier, but I want you to do something for me. Okay?"

'Please, anything to keep the monster away," she replied in her head. Of course she couldn't reply like this so instead she nodded.

"Don't tell him about my behavior, or the way I lost my cool. You think you can do that for me?" he asked, definitely waiting for her reply this time.

"Yes, sir, anything." She tried to smile a little but ultimately failed when a laugh echoed behind her…

She turned to see the lizard waving a cell phone, one she recognized as a Universe X7: "Nick, those guys had some good shit, just look at what I found. I alway wanted one of these!"

She didn't know if she should have been mad at him for robbing mammals he had just killed. Fear him because he was standing in a pool of blood - he had removed his duster coat to prevent it from getting dirty and was somehow not wearing his rangers… which wouldn't have bothered her since almost no one wore them if he hadn't been standing bare footed in the blood. Or throw up one more time in front of all the headless mammals - he had probably chosen to shot the heads to prevent damaging money or goods. She finally opted for option three and turned to throw up again.

"Well, take everything you can, Baika owns me a fair amount of cash after all, this will make up to me." Said Nick with a light laugh, as if it was nothing.

Judy couldn't believe her ears, was it the shock? Was she so disturbed by everything that had happened so far that she had misheard? Was Nick truly unphased by all this and even more; happy?

She looked at him hoping to see him give her his usual grin, anything that could mean he wasn't serious, but he made a point of not looking at her.

"So what happened anyway?" Asked the lizard.

Judy's ears shot up and she caught Nick's shirt in his back with her right paw. He finally turned to look at her. And resumed wiping her face. "Some disagreement regarding foxes…" he answered casually. Strangely he seemed a little on the edge...

"I'm a mammal of my word, Carrots," he said with a low but gentle smile so the reptile couldn't hear him. "Just be sure to hold on your part of the deal…" The second part was much less friendly...

"She sent five mammals after you for _this_?" the bigger predator pushed.

"I may have a little crude with my answer and may have ill speak about a certain part of their anatomy…" The fox replied.

"I would totally bed one to see if it's true." Said the lizard, looking in the wallet of one of the corpses. "Nice…" he added as he put it in his pocket.

"You would bed anything as long as it as a hole, dick or not!" Nick shot with a laugh.

"SHE has to be pretty, I have standards after all." the bigger male replied with his own laugh. "a bit more than six hundred zoollars plus their phones and weapons, not bad for a two minute fight." he added.

Judy saw him walk away from the blood flowing and wipe his feet on a trash bag. "Fuck me!" he shouted. "I forgot to get my money!"

"Can we go back?" asked the fox a little on the edge at the idea of losing money.

"Sure can," came his reply. "We're close and I have to thank that new girl for the morning she gave me. Oh and there's also this Hyena that told me where to find that racket where you had trouble… I also think I left my shoes at her place..."

"Wait, wait!" Nick snarled. "You don't mean the Vixen, do you?" Obviously he knew the place.

"Yes I do." Was the only thing Nick let him say before bursting.

"You mean to tell me that when I was running away for my hide you were rutting a prostitute?!" He yelled.

Surprised by the sudden outburst of anger Judy took a few steps back.

"You weren't supposed to leave for work without me," the other reminded him. "I'm your bodyguard, remember. Don't go anywhere without me." Seeing that he snarled at Nick the lizard seemed more keen to kill him than protect him…

"Like I could afford not to take a job! I still own Big a huge amount of money!" Nick shot back.

"Then let me kill him for you." The lizard answered… before looking right at her.

Suddenly, Nick seemed to remember she was here and shook his head and slightly laughed, his usual smirk back on his muzzle. "Nah, it's something I have to take care of myself."

Neither Dagon nor him spoke as they walked away from the looted corpses. "We're just leaving them there?" she asked, looking at the two predators with big eyes.

"You sure you want to clean the place, Carrots?" asked Nick, showing the whole mess with his paw. "Because I don't…"

"But the cops-" She started.

"-won't do anything." Nick finished her sentence. "Things like this happen all the time... " He turned toward the lizard. "Well Dagon doesn't kill five mammals a day but you get the picture." This earned him a laugh from his bodyguard - who had put back his hood and scarf and had closed his duster coat - and they walked away.

"So, which girl did you picked?" asked Nick with a playful tone.

.

Nick POV

.

Nick's nerves were on the edge of exploding when they made it to their skat. He was lucky he hadn't jump at anyone's throat by now. Turns out Dagon had been screwing a new girl he had protected during his work. Funny thing, Ruby, the owner of the place, had given them a 'bonus' for it, she had told him Dagon had been a good experience for the girl.

Sadly, this hadn't done anything for the numerous mammals that had saw the reptile running down the street. Reptiles were extremely rare, diplomatic relations between Mammalia and Reptilia were tense. A reptile running through Undertopia was a really bad thing, even more if some had seen him follow them in the alley and found Baika's dead 'boys'.

He had joked as much as possible to hide how mad he was. Hell, he wished he could have beat down Baika's 'boys' himself.

_You know where to find what you need, why don't you leave them alone?_

'Better be sure those two don't do something stupid when I'm not here…'

He walked to the apartment that they used as a TV/dining room followed by the two animals. "So," he started once Dagon had closed the door behind them, "I had hell of a night, haven't washed for the last twenty-four hours and need to do a few thing so that mammals 'forget' seeing a reptile running down the streets..." Dagon gave him a toothy smile, 'of course he doesn't care, what's done is done to him…' he thought to himself... Judy didn't dared to look at him, maybe she thought she was responsible for what happened?

_She kinda is…_

"So I'm going to let the two of you alone so you can make acquaintance." Suddenly, Judy looked at him her ears flat behind her head, her nose twitching and her eyes full of plea; it was obvious that she feared Dagon more that anything… But _he_ needed to be alone. "Tomorrow we'll discuss on some rules for us to work together. Until then..." he stood between the two of them, "Dagon, meet Serendipity Jumps..." he saw the weird look she gave him, "you don't want to use your real name do you? I mean, in this kind of work it can be bad…" she gave a small nod of understanding. "So, Serendipity Jumps; our new co-worker. A beautiful bunny that, _I'm sure of it,_ will do everything she can to help us…" He looked at her and was pleased to see she had got the message… "And Serendipity, meet Dagon - just Dagon - a _deadly_ Komodo Dragon that, _I'm sure of it_ , will be more than pleased to work with you."

He stood between them for a moment, waiting… and since none of them acted he threw his foot at Dagon's leg - regretting the decision when his more fragile member hit the sturdy scales - but hopefully, making him understand what he wanted.

Dagon extended his paw and waited for Judy to shake it. "You're supposed to shake his paw cotton-tail…" She obliged, taking two of his finger in her own paw and shaking it slightly. "Good, now I'll leave you two alone and I expect that you won't tear each other face of when I'm not here okay kits?" Dagon growled at the joke but he ignored him, leaving the room and heading to the shower.

What he had wanted was to wash away all the tension he had accumulated during the day. Sadly, when he closed the door behind him, he fell down. He felt like throwing up, his heartbeat going faster, he started panting, and his whole fur stood up.

'Fuck this shit I can't take it anymore!' he screamed at himself. He tried to stand but ultimately failed, his legs seeming unable to hold him and his breath becoming unstable. He felt his claw dig into the rug he bit down on it to prevent himself from screaming, last thing he needed was Dagon breaking down the door to find him in this state…

After what felt like eternity - but was more likely five minutes - he managed to stand, he looked at himself in a glace, his gaze met the one of a savage fox, ready to maul anyone crossing his path… He quickly got out of the personal room and out of the squat too before having another attack…

.

Zootopia wasn't the town "where anyone can be anything" - this stupid slogan was a bait to make mammals think they had a chance in this big city - however, Undertopia _was_ … As long as you had money and knew the right mammals.

For some time, Nick had been one of the few to have both, until he fucked up. He had been put through hell and barely escaped with the company of a giant, scaled komodo. For a time, the two of them had started to build a small 'business' where they would be guns for hire, dealers, bodyguards or - mostly him - sell their body…

Nick wasn't particularly fond of what he had done but had done it because of one thing, a lingering need imposed to him, a curse he couldn't break from, something he hated and loved all the same…

Right now, Nick had some money and knew the right mammal… He was hard to find, but he who knew where to look would be greeted by the best product available on the market.

"Hey, Charlie…" Nick said to a Coyote leaning against a wall in a dark alley not so far from one of the stairs that led to the surface. The larger canine turned towards him, lowering his dark green hoodie from his head and his bloodshot eyes widened. The smell of cigarettes and hard liquor stung Nick's nose, the vices of a mammal who made a living from the vices of others. A patch of his fur was shaved near his shoulder, revealing a tattoo: a padded paw holding a fang...

"Rouge gorge!" replied the mammal with a smile and spreading his arm to hug him. "How have you been my friend. It's been a while, I'd thought you left me for someone else!"

"Do NOT call me like that!" Nick snarled and caught the bigger predator's shirt with both his paw, dragging him down to his face. Immediately, three other predators came out of nowhere, with guns in their paws.

"Easy guys, Nick here is just… _en manque_ as Napoleon would say…" They all settled down, and returned to their hidden positions.

"So, Nick, I'm assuming you want your normal pick me up?" he showed a small flask containing a blue liquid.

"Here." Nick gave him the hundred bucks Dagon had made with his job, the reptile hadn't even see him take it. Charlie counted it, nodded with a satisfied smile and passed Nick the syringe.

"You know, Nick, you could always work for us if you want. You'd get your fix…" the coyote suggested with a smile, knowing perfectly the answer.

"No thanks, my days as 'Rouge gorge' are over, Napoleon himself let me go…" he replied.

"Well, King and you didn't give him the choice…" Charlie smirked.

Nick tapped the syringe, ensuring against any air bubbles that would spell the difference between his high and his death would be dislodged, and with the tip aiming skyward, he depressed the plunger. A droplet formed at the tip, balanced in perfect harmony, an almost glowing, neon blue speck in the dark alley.

He placed the needle against the right side of his throat, the tip following his unoccupied hand that quickly, and expertly, searched for his jugular. Once his target was found, he lined it up. Slowly, the needle bit him and he eased it in further, stopping before he penetrated the vein twice. His thumb pressed the plunger down, _slowly_. No matter how many times he'd performed the same actions, he never liked to rush this part. What was the point in getting high if you're not going to enjoy it after all.

Flames burned his veins as the drug traveled into him. He could trace its journey with his finger without fail, the sensation both painful and delightful as it carved a path down his neck and into his chest. Withdrawing the syringe, he broke the needle off, tossed both pieces in the nearby overflowing dumpster like a respectable user and turned around just as the euphoric and torturous fire reached his heart, where it blossomed on its journey throughout the rest of his body.

"King is dead." He said before leaving, feeling much better now. The cold he had felt was gone, his limbs weren't shaking anymore, his nerves at ease, his heartbeat still higher than normal but under control. He still needed to beat down somemammal but at least he didn't feel bad about it anymore…

He felt in power, able to take on the world, he felt stupid for earlier, for how weak he had felt. Now that he was back to who he was supposed to be, the male every mammal needed to fear, and step away from, he needed to assume his refound position on someone…

_You still have that bunny back at the squat._

He was pleased to see mammals move away from his path as he walked back home. He licked his lips as a special kind of hunger made its way through him...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I… I don't know what to say! Before I even realised it I had written 3 pages describing Dagon's intercourse with the Artic Vixen… Weeeellll let's say that it was a test, to see if I could do it. I think I can, what do YOU guys think? Also WTF? Why did I used past perfect tense?! Too many 'had' for me!
> 
> Then huge thank to G4COD: I like to think I'm good at writing action buuuut drug? I seems I suck with it… So he wrote the part where Nick take his 'blue'. (those of you who don't have any ideas of what it could be need a good kick in the ass!)
> 
> Finally I said it, Dagon is a komodo dragon! So, how many of you knew it? Don't be shy, tell me!
> 
> So, is Dagon overpowered? No, you have to understand a few things about Komodo dragons:
> 
> They eat buffalo… Yeah you read me well, Dagon would feed on Bogo (cape buffalo/water buffalo, whatever a buffalo is a buffalo) if he could.
> 
> They can grow up to three meters (ten feet) for the biggest… We all know animal in zootopia are bigger than their primal form sooo can you imagine a komodo dragon? Or worse, a sea crocodile? Fearsome!
> 
> Komodo dragon's most dangerous weapon isn't the jaw (which is a bit weak compared to some other reptiles) even if they are known to be able to break bones using it. Their deadly weapon is their tail: they can stun a deer with a single swing of this deadly whip and that, without aiming. Imagine how dangerous it would be it they targeted the neck hum? Well I'll give you a hint: poor hyena.
> 
> Now you wait until the next chapter to learn more about him and his species and how I imagine they had evolved.
> 
> Oh and yeah, Nick is an addict, you were warned since the first chapter: M for drug remember?


	11. It's all fun and games until Dagon get pissed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I recently saw a French animation Film called "sahara" that features snakes and scorpion as protagonists. The message was pretty close to Zootopia, except it was talking more or less about emigration, (a subject French's seems to love). Overall it wasn't close to how great Zootopia was but I had fun watching it and the animations (omg who knew serpents could dance like that) were great! If you have the chance to watch it, go for it, it's not perfect but you may have a good time :)
> 
> Alright, time to give you some info on Dagon; I've been keeping so much to myself for so long! Oh but as I already said, don't worry, this is still a WildeHopps (well it start pretty bad but hopefully things will brighten… maybe?) So we'll soon focus back on them.
> 
> I just have to make Judy fear him even more… why? Because… Well half of you already know but… There is more than just a small syndrome; you'll see heh heh heh.
> 
> Now without further delay:

Judy POV

.

Sitting on a massive armchair, Judy was sure that if fear had a smell she would reek of it… Nick had left her alone with the very lizard - who was right now sitting in another chair on the other side of the table - that had had almost killed her with his bare teeth, put a shock collar around her neck and displayed savagery known by no mammal right in front of her.

_Oh and he didn't seemed phased by the fact he was standing in a pool of blood barefoot… A pool he made himself by shooting the face of the five mammals he had beaten down, with a weird shotgun._

"You taste of fear…" was the only thing he said, his forked tongue going in and out his mouth as he broke the pregnant silence...

'And now I'm screwed…' she told herself

"As long as you behave and obey I'm not going to harm you…" He said. She nodded - more to be polite and try to have a 'conversation' with him than to really agree - before he spoke again. "But if you try to double cross Nick or me, I will skin you alive, you hear me? I will catch you by the ears and…" His tongue darted out and in his mouth a few time… "As I said, no need to fear me as long as you behave." He tried to smile and nodded at the same time; she noticed that something was odd: where he had been lacking teeths due to her kick, she could distinctly see some new ones.

She must've eyed it a bit too much because he explained with a smirk, " _Lizards,_ when we lose something it grows back." _This lizard_ was the first she had ever saw but she could guess this was a very specist comment against his own species. He didn't seemed bothered though because he followed, "Well not _all_ of us, but the teeth growing back is something we all share, sorry not so sorry to deprive you from the only sign that you had managed to hold your ground against me…" he chuckled

'Does he think he's funny?' She asked herself.

_Who cares?! He's deadly that's all that matter!_

"I thought it was pretty funny…" the lizard said with a frown…

_OMG he reads mind we're done for he's going to find out that-_

'Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! SHUT UP!'

"Calm the fuck down! I can't taste anything other than your fear!" The very source of her fear growled. This seemed to have the effect - not necessarily the one he had been looking for, judging by the frown he made after _tasting_ the air once more - to make a freeze and hold her breath, her mind emptying.

He grunted and silence fell on the room.

'Should I talk? Maybe he's expecting me to talk first?' She asked herself, taking a small look at the lizard.

_Are you insane? He'll eat you!_

He sighed, stood and walked to the fridge on the other side of the room. He had his back turned at her, his attention fully focused on what was inside. She could have kicked him, try to knock him down, to take the remote and free herself… But if it hadn't worked on Nick it wouldn't work on him…

.

.

The lizard took something from the fridge and came back to sit right in front of her. She saw in his huge clawed paws two bottles of beer. He opened them bare pawed and gave her one. She still had the taste of all the alcohol she had drink through the short time she had been here - and she was sure that she would once again wake up with the impression that an army of bulls had danced on her head - but she took the bottle and managed a faint smile.

"My people don't have a good hearing…" He started. "Our sight is pretty average and we can't see as well as other predators in the dark." He stopped, took a huge sip of his drink and followed "but we so have the best sense of taste." He stuck his long forked tongue out of his mouth to emphasis his words. "Using it we can 'see' better than any mammals, we can recognize the 'taste' of any mammal, and, under good circumstances know exactly where they are up to six miles." He took another sip.

This made her shiver… If that was true then it meant that she could run away he could find here almost wherever she would hide… _If_ she ever managed to escape… Her brain pictured her running away with him constantly on her tracks… Then something hit her: he had say he could _recognize_ the taste does he meant that even if he lost her track he would remember her 'taste' even five years later?

"The strongest taste we know is blood." He said, eying his almost empty bottle with a frown… Which made her think she hadn't drank anything and that he could take it bad… She immediately guzzled down half her bottle, almost choking on it.

"Take it easy, we still have some…" He said. "But nice guzzling! You drink pretty well!" he chuckled. "Blood acts as a beacon for us." He continued as if nothing had happened. "I can tell if someone is bleeding, how far he is and how bad it is…" His tongue darted out of his mouth and he clapped his jaws. "By the way you should take a shower, you still taste of blood." He said as a matter of fact as if he wasn't responsible.

"Our sense of touch is also one of the best." He said, tapping some scales on his face. "We can… 'feel' the movements around us." He paused obviously thinking of a good way to explain it to her. "Let's say that when you move you produce waves in the air; some of my scales are hyper sensitives and feel the waves, telling me how you move."

He guzzled the rest of his beer and stood to take two more from the fridge. He opened them, once more placing one in front of her - she hadn't noticed she had almost finished her own - and sat back.

"My kind rules Reptilia." He said, taking a sip of his beer. "Reptilians is ruled by the strong and WE are the deadliest reptiles on earth…" she didn't know if it was because he was starting to get drunk, or because she wasn't used to his voice but he seemed angry at this fact. "Sure, sea crocodiles are bigger, have stronger jaws but they aren't venomous…"

She choked on her beer at this revelation, splitting it everywhere. "For gods' sake, I told you to take it easy! Do you have any idea how much this shit costs?!" he scowled her.

'Sweet cheese and crackers!' she thought freezing at his scowl, 'what's wrong with him? One moment he's cheerful the next he's mad, then trying to be funny, then mad again… he's an emotional wind vane!'

Yet, the curiosity and the surprise created by the revelation were stronger than her fear for him. "How come you're venomous? Didn't you bite me? Is-is that the reason I lost consciousness right after you-"

He snapped his jaw, efficiently shutting her down at the sight of his teeth. "Every reptile shares a common venomous ancestor, most likely a snake or something." He said. "Indeed I bit you _and_ yeah, that's the reason you lost consciousness." He stood up, went to the fridge and came back empty pawed, a frown on his face…

"No more beer…" He mumbled as he took his phone out and dialed a number. She was sure it was almost inaudible to him but to her it was as if he had spoken normally… She decided to finish her own - it wasn't so bad after all, it eased the tension and he seemed to warm up with alcohol - while he was making his call.

There had been a time when she would have tried to listen to the conversation - him being a criminal it would have been almost instinctive to her - but she figured it would be for the best not to put her nose too deep in his business… She soon regretted not listening because when she was sipping the rest of her bottle, the reptile suddenly shouted. "What do you mean I already have a tab?!"

' _Please don't eat me!'_ She and her inner voice supplied unconsciously.

"Wilde?! No! No, I'm not paying for something I didn't touched!" he was always 'reserved' and 'calm' as strange as it may have seemed. So seeing him in this state was kind of scary… This or his money/alcohol was the most important thing in the world.

" _Don't make me come get you."_ Judy's body froze, she had learned how to recognize a threat at the academy… This paired with her instincts made it clear: he _would_ kill whoever he was talking to. Had she been a cop - _and had an entire squad of marines_ \- she would've _kindly_ asked him to calm down in a cell.

_Right now you should focus on not angering him anymore…_

"Great, now pack my order and bring it here!" His red eyes fixed her for a moment… "And I better not taste anything weird; _remember how you got this restaurant…_ "

He finished his call and let himself fall on the couch she had used as a bed so far, making a crashing noise. She wondered how the furniture could survive such treatment… "A single bite of mine is deadly, my poison will cause the blood to dry and will slow down your heart-rate… considering your size, you should have died within less than one minute." He gave her the time to fully understand what he had said. "And my people keep the antivenom a secret," he smirked with pride.

"So how come I'm still alive?" She asked.

"I made a deal with your parents…" The smirk went wider than Nick's.

_Except Nick saved you, this one almost killed you._

"Nick always makes me carry anti venom on me, just in case…" He reached for his duster coat, and took a small - at least in his paws - box from one of the inside pockets. He opened it revealing several syringes. "Your parents keep quiet about your kitnaping and I wouldn't let my venom kill you…" he put the box back in the pocket.

"Wait, you gave me the anti-venom then took me away and my family didn't do anything?" she asked. Knowing her parents and some of her brothers she couldn't believe they had let her be taken without a fight.

"Let's just say numbers doesn't make strength, even less against someone that has been trained to kill…" he said, while clenching his fists.

"You didn't-" She started but he cut her off.

"Shoot them? Kill them? Maul them? Eat them? Or at least beat them down?" He stood and slowly walked over to her with a smile. "No… I didn't… You were the only one stupid enough to face me; the other _cute_ morsels knew their place."

"Don't call them cute…" she mumbled, looking at the floor. It more by principle than to really order him around: he had proved to be too much for her to handle after all… Hopefully, she hadn't said it loud enough for him to hear.

"I call my _meal_ however I like, _prey_ …" was his answer, a visible frown showing his teeth on his face. She must've gazed too much because he kneeled down the same way he had the first time they had meet, making her freeze, "I can read your lips, remember?"

She took a few steps back, not taking her eyes out of him. All her senses were screaming _Danger_.

"Now no need to fear, just obey…" He stood and made the bones of his fist crack. He then walked right towards her with a devious smirk on his face. Slowly, giving her enough time to take a few steps back each time he made one, his gaze firmly locked on her.

She soon felt something hard pressing against her back and felt her emotion run wild.

_Run, escape, do something! Or he's going to eat you!_

He extended a paw. "Stop struggling it will only make things worse."

_He's going to eat you! Eatyoueatyoueatyou! Run!_

His paw reached for something higher than her… and opened the fridge with a smirk... "You should really calm down, I don't eat mammals anymore." He said as a matter of fact, pushing her aside to reach inside the fridge.

_What does he mean 'anymore'?!_

"You did this on purpose?" She asked, half annoyed, half afraid that he could not be joking.

"Alcohol always eases the mood." He simply answered. And, as much as she hated to admit it, he was right. So far, the two beers she had drank - paired with everything she had drunk before and that was still in her system - had made him seem less dangerous, even if her instincts were still screaming at her, telling her to run away…

.

.

The Reptile, took some bottles out of the fridge, frowning at each of them… Some were liquor, other were obviously forgotten juices that had stayed there for too long. He took a bag and put them in, his frown deepening each time he found a bottle that didn't contain alcohol.

'If it eases the mood, he seems to grow angry as time passes without it…' She thought to herself while sitting in her armchair, waiting for him to either finish his doing or find another bottle. Thankfully, a knock from the door staged his attention away from the fridge.

"You stay there," he said, his clawed finger pointed at her.

She didn't reply; a bit too tired to argue or even agree… And she had no intention of staying close to him…

She heard the door open, a few words were exchanged then the door shut and Dagon was back to the room with a bag similar to what Nick had brought back earlier…

He put in on the table, gave her a small carton box, a huge - for her size - beer, probably tiger sized and sat back with a bottle and his own burger. She looked inside her carton box to find what seemed to be a tofu burger.

She took a salad leaf from it to give it a taste, surprisingly it wasn't so bad. Of course it wasn't near her parents' farm product but the sauce made it okay… the only thing bothering her was the tofu… She had never tasted meat, real or not… and she really didn't want to start with some dirty fast food… The only problem was to explain that to a reptile that would most likely explode if he learned that…

"You should probably eat, even _I_ can hear the noise your stomach is making…" he said after guzzling a good amount of beer. She then noticed she hadn't eaten for the… last time? Since she had left the academy? And how much time had it been?

"How long have I been here?" she asked the reptile that had started to eat.

He eyed her, then his burger then back at her, he repeated it a few times and made a frown; "Can't it wait a bit? I'm having a moment here…" She couldn't understand if he was joking or not, she may have been trained to read mammals… but that was it, mammals, not reptiles.

_Huge, dangerous and deadly reptile!_

"You should probably eat too, with all you've drank you'll soon start spitting nonsense if you don't…"

She eyed her own burger with disgust; "No thank, I'm not sure I can eat that thing…" She said.

"You won't have my chicken!" was his reply. He barred his teeth at her, and took a huge chomp in his meal. She saw those sharp teeth tear the burger rather than cut it… Once the meat was in his jaws he chewed it twice before throwing his head back, forcing the food inside his throat. And repeated a second time. Having almost eaten his whole burger with three bites he stopped and she noticed she had been gazing a bit too much...

She took her own burger to focus on something else than him. She focussed on the greasy food in her paw, discretely looking at Dagon, looking back at her, making sure she was eating… In an attempt to put him in a better mood she bitten the burger, taking a huge part of tofu… It was tasteless, the sauce being the only thing she could taste… but the texture? She wasn't used to it, it almost felt like something _alive_ was trying to get out of her mouth…

She resisted the urge to spit it, gulped and guzzled a good amount of beer to ease things down. "How is it?" asked the very reptile that had put it between her paws…

"You never had some yourself?" She asked. A bit disturbed by his question…

"No, I _need_ to feel real flesh in my mouth. To feel the meat _tearing apart_ between my teeth, my throat _crushing it_ as I swallow…" He started to list, madness on his face before switching back to her. "That doesn't answer my question…"

_Be careful how you answer! You can't tell him you don't like it!_

'Then what do I say?!' She asked her inner self, 'I won't be able to finish it anyway!'

_If you hadn't used Nick as a kicking bag or spurted that you were trying to be a cop in a room full of criminal maybe you wouldn't be here! Figure it alone!_

"It's… _special_?" she answered, choosing the easiest way out.

"Explain?" It seemed he had set his mind on finding out if she had liked it or not… And it the same time it seemed he wouldn't take 'I don't like it' as an answer…

"The texture is strange, I have never eaten anything like this before, it feels strange beneath my teeth, and it doesn't really have a taste…" She waved her paw in a etcaetera way, hopping he would take it as an answer, which of course he didn't.

"So you like it?" he asked, forcing her to answer this time.

"...No…" She simply said, hoping he wouldn't get mad at her.

"Good thing I never tasted that stuff then, Nick always try to make me eat some…" Was his answer and he threw the rest of his own burger in his mouth. "Eat what you want out of it, leave the rest," he added once finishing his meal.

She didn't wait to remove the gross white thing out of the burger and munched the bread and salad, her stomach welcoming the food happily.

'Really, how much time has it been since I last ate?' She asked herself…

When she finished she took her beer and downed a bit of it to give her courage for what she knew was the next part of their little discussion… and judging by the way his eyes were firmly fixed on her, she knew he wouldn't be the only one talking this time.

.

.

"Now that your stomach, your nose and your heart calmed down, and your gaze isn't switching between the nearest escape and me, maybe we can talk a bit…" The reptile said, taking his beer in his paw and leaning on his armchair…

Vicious, deadly, stubborn and observant were the first adjectives that came to her mind… She _had_ been eyeing each door of the room, then him, trying to figure the best way to run away if he decided to chase her down…

"I want to play a game…" he said, cutting her thoughts "The rule of this game is simple, one ask a question, the other answers without lying then we switch roles. Sounds good?" It didn't take detective skills to understand that was a rhetorical question so she simply nodded. "Good, to prove my good will, you may start. Ask what you want: want me to tell you more about my species? Me? Or perhaps how I dragged you here, what I do for a living, how we want to use you to make money... You ask." He waved his paw toward her.

He had indeed given her good questions but one had stirred curiosity: "Then tell me about your job." It was the best choice: by knowing what he and Nick did for a living she could guess what they could ask her to do.

"... Well I focus on everything that may require getting my paws dirty while Nick tries to find jobs where he can use his silver tongue… In _every possible way_ …" he answered with a frown. "Most of the time I act as Nick's henchmammal, he finds a job and we do it…" He took a sip of beer, "If it may get dangerous I fight and Nick does his best to help… or to stay out of the way, he's good, but… I tend to frenzy when I fight. And if we need more _subtlety_ ,Nick is here."

"That doesn't really answer the question…" She noted, a bit annoyed.

"If someone want to sell weapons but doesn't trust the buyer he sends Nick and I instead." He answered with a growl, sitting straight, before leaning one elbow on his knee. "If things go great, Nick tries to get as much money as he can. And he's good at it." He indicated with a grin. "If things go wrong, Nick tries to talk our way out. And if it goes really wrong…" he gave a small sadistic chuckle and slammed his jaw shut, smiling. "Well, you've already witnessed how I work."

_Sure we did, dangerous giant lizard taking on five mammals alone and happily killing them…_

"My turn," he said. "What really happened?" he asked. "I know Nick is good as getting himself into trouble but not to _this_ extent…"

_We're dead._

'Not helping there!' she shouted at her stupid defeatist inner voice.

"Feeling guilty?" He asked, his forked tongue going in and out his mouth, a annoyed frown on her face.

'Emotional wind vane…' she thought.

"No," she answered, "it's just that… Mister Wilde asked me not to talk about it… He said it was nothing you needed to take care of." She hoped he would accept this poor attempt to ditch the question and maybe ask something else… Something that didn't involved telling him she had hurt his friend and that he was beaten down because of her…

"He was beaten down…" He slowly stood.

_We're dead._

"Whatever he thinks, he's not here, so answer my question. _I_ will judge if _I_ have to take care of it or not…" the lizard was now fully standing, judging her with an inquisitorial eye.

_We're dead._

"He-he made me promise…" She tried.

"Don't. make. me. repeat. myself." He growled, starting to get closer to her, his arm spreading a bit. This awakened her deepest fears, forcing her to remember the last time he had such a posture… right before she tried to remove the collar her had put on her… and got choked.

The memories weakened her resolve and she tried to back up, to put as much distance as possible between her and him… and he obviously wasn't pleased because he took _something_ from his pocket and growled once more. She froze at the sight of the remote.

"NO!" she shouted and ran to him, surprisingly he didn't do anything, he didn't used the damned device on her. He waited for her to be at his feet before putting the remote back to his pocket.

"Talk." He said with an authoritar voice.

.

.

Tears started to build up as he sat back on his armchair, waiting for her to talk. He knew she had done something bad, that she was partially responsible for Nick's state. But he wanted her to say it herself, he wanted her to feel even more guilty about it… And once she would have tell him, he would punish her for what she did.

"I…" She started with a broken voice. "When we were on the middle of that Hyena's racket… I said… I told them all I wanted to be a cop…" She waited for what she knew was coming… and wasn't disappointed.

The lizard bursted into laughter, his mouth opening wide, showing his razor teeth and his brand new one - proof as he had say that every resistance she had put up had no impact on him - and a cavernous sound exitting it… But it wasn't for the reason she thought. "You serious?! You spurted that in the middle of a bunch of hyenas doing illegal business? What next? You threaten Mister B to arrest him?!" and he bursted into another set of laugh.

"Seriously morsel!" he said after having calmed down. "You put him in deep shit there…" He said with a smile… That lasted but a second before turning into an angry frown. "But what I was referring to is who bashed him down when I was on the phone?"

Now _this_ almost made her heart stop from beating.

_We're dead. We're dead. We're dead. We're dead. We're dead!_

"It- it w-was the brown wolf y-you k-kill-" she tried but was obviously so much in fear she knew he didn't need to _taste_ the air to find that she was lying…

She saw the lizard reach for his pocket where he had put the remote and she bursted into tears. "It was me!" she shouted, making him stop and turn toward her, his expression as cold at the water of the Ice wall at the ZPD academy… "I thought we were safe!" Whatever happened now she needed to let it out, he wouldn't stop until he got the explanation he was looking for. "I thought I could knock him down, take the remote and escape!" she cried, waiting for the shock she knew she deserved… Or worse.

But he didn't shocked her, he just stood and closed the gap between them. "So let's say you had managed to free yourself, you would have left him there, in a dark alley, for someone to find him?" he asked, growling.

As much as she wanted the answer to be 'no', she knew that when it happened, she would… and she hated herself for that so she answered: "Yes."

.

.

She saw it coming this time, the lizard wasn't using his jaw but his paw instead. He slapped her, hard. She knew she could have avoided it, alcohol or not - he hadn't tried to hide his intent either… but she felt like she deserved it. If Nick wasn't going to punish her, someone had to… or she would have punished herself.

She landed hard on the floor and wasn't surprised when he lifter her with one paw, his eyes redder than usual - or maybe she was just imagining things - meeting hers for less than a second before he threw her _luckily_ to the couch.

"Three days!" He shouted. "Not only did you managed to put Nick in the deepest shit you could, because let me tell you that mammals around here don't really like traitors, but you would've let him rot to death in an alley just for your pathetic freedom?"

"I-" she tried, she wanted to say that she was sorry - she really was - that she wouldn't do it, that she would obey… but he didn't let her, instead, he stabbed her in the heart, reminding her with the two first words he had said…

"You've been here for three days and you almost killed Nick twice! I should torture you to death!" he yelled, making her cry. He was probably obvious to the real reason she cried, he had broken her dream… Three days had passed and she hadn't returned to the academy… They would consider that she had decided to drop out, the four months of training she had gone through were nothing now… All that was left of her was the small bunny in front of the huge and fearsome predator…

But what should have depressed her instead filled her with anger and hatred, toward the reason of her depression: the lizard in front of her. The monster that had turned her three days of rest into a living hell.

_Yes, a monster!_

So she yelled back at him, "Monster!" with all her might. If words could hurt she wanted hers to make him bleed, if she couldn't win against him in a fight, she would kill him with words.

It made him freeze for half a second, not used to be yelled at obviously… But just like after she had landed a kick on him he started to regain control. "What was that for?" he asked with a growl.

"You are a monster!" she repeated, her voice like daggers.

"Sure I am." Was what the said monster answered with… that could have taken her aback if it wasn't for how mad she currently was.

"You broke my dream and that all you've got to say? "Sure you are a monster and so what?"" she growled on par with him.

"Ha!" he shouted. "You're not the first nor the last animal, this city destroys hopes or dreams!" taunting her, obviously having fun.

"So what? Because someone crushed your dreams you think you can do the same to others? That's pathetic!" she replied, not caring about the consequences anymore.

"That's rich, coming from the bunny that tried to become a cop!" he shot back, crossing his arms. "Back there, you're just a carrot farmer, you should focus on what you have rather than trying to be what you can't be." He had _almost_ calmed down, as if he was giving her a sincere advice.

But it made it worse; she didn't want him to show concern, to act like every mammal was toward her. Seeing nothing more in her than a _cute little bunny_. At least he had treated like he would treat any mammal, without any concern for her species; regardless of her being a girl or a _fragile bunny_ he hadn't hesitated to take her down. As stupid as it seemed she didn't want him to restrain himself in front of her, to hold back because she was just a bunny.

"I don't want to be a carrot farmer!" she screamed. "I want to be more! More than what you all see in me, more tha-" Her breath cut when he slammed his jaw shut, the noise being louder than before…

"Oh, you poor thing! You wanted to be more?" he asked sarcastically. "Well guess what? You're lucky!" he yelled at her, all teeth out, reminding her that, maybe, it was safer if he treated her like a fragile thing that he shouldn't touch. "At least _you_ can _try_ to be more than what you are!" his face was twisted in disgust and…

'Almost pain?' She asked herself.

"Some of us wished they could be a little LESS!" This time he was standing right in front of her, obviously trying not to hit her…

_Please, please don't say that! Please he's going to kill you!_

"You are breaking the dreams of others because you wanted to be a loser?!" She snarled… before flying. He had slapped her once more, except that this time he had put a greater strength.

"Don't talk about what you don't know!" Rage filled his voice.

She still managed to stand, looking at him right in the eyes, she knew that even if he managed to knock her down she would have won, violence was the weapon of the weak after all. "Oh I know, I understand,'" she joked. "I understand why you can't be less, you already are a loser, you can't fall any lower." She braced for the impact, ready to try to escape this time… She wouldn't go without a fight.

.

.

Sadly, the monster was way too fast for her in her slowed state, alcohol weakening her defences and slowing her. He caught her by her throat and lifted her easily. "You will shut up _morsel,_ even if I have to remove your tongue to make sure of it!"

She kicked his arm but it had no effect, her strength came from momentum after all, not the muscles in her legs. Still, he slammed her back on the table, starting to squeeze her throat, strangling her.

Her paw searched frantically for something to help her fight back. She touched something, caught it and crushed it against his arm, breaking… her 'weapon'. She quickly looked at what was left in her paw and found a broken bottle with some sharp edges. She used it like a knife on him, hitting his scaled arm with all her slowly disappearing strength.

After the third attempt he caught the bottle in his paw and threw it away. She looked at his arm and tears began to flow… He wasn't even harmed. He leaned down, a vicious smile on his face...

"Osteoderm..." He smiled before clenching his paw around neck even more and lifting her in the air.

She saw him reach for the remote and show it to her… She knew that what the hyena had made her suffer would be nothing in comparison with what he had in mind… She let an ultimate cry before what she thought would be the worse time of her life…

"DAGON!" A voice growled. The last thing she saw before falling - the paw around her neck releasing her immediately - was a red storm bash into the monster.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For GODS SAKE! We did it! We made you wait guys! I'm sorry, I'm really sorry, work piled up and I hadn't the time to release this chapter! And I was without news from G4Cod for a week and half! I was about to send the ZPD after him! Oh and of course I wrote this little drabble called "the Under crusade" if you haven't check it yet, go look for it, I promisse you'll like it (if not well screw yourself!)
> 
> But we did it! Yeaaaah!
> 
> You'll notice Judy started to describe Dagon as a reptile and not a lizard when he seems to warm up... Well that didn't last long...
> 
> Sooo, yeah… Everything Dagon said about his own specie is true. The last part: "Osteoderm" means that his scales are extremely hard; in fact, some of his scales are bones!
> 
> Oh god here comes the… Latin: Osteo = (mostly) 'Os' in french = 'bones' in english. Derm = 'Épiderme' = 'peau' = 'skin' (yeah I know you guys too have epiderm but you stole it from us!) So Osteoderm = roughly "boned skin".
> 
> You understand why Judy couldn't pierce it with a bottle.
> 
> Now I'll go work on TCC, don't forget to leave a review, see ya!


	12. Don't waste beer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the extreme late… Work… Like hell! Who knew you could work fourteen hours a day? *shiver*  
> Oh btw, have you already tried to wear a tie (hey who said only Nick had the right to? I’m even more handsome than he is!) with a polo? Well don’t, no matter the colour, pattern or knot it looks horrible!
> 
> [What about cheap, buy-in-bulk Hawaiian shirts?!]
> 
> Nope! Doesn't work ether...

Whatever Nick’s drugged brain had planned for the bunny died as he closed the door to the squat and heard a female voice mid-shout: “are a loser, you can’t fall any lower!”

“Fuck!” he cursed out loud and started to rush toward the apartment where he knew he would find Dagon and Judy… If he could find the bunny because the sounds he could hear from the apartment clearly suggested Dagon was about to kill her.

He opened the door to see the dragon holding the bunny in the air by the throat, while his other paw clenched around a small device…

Without even thinking, he bashed into his friend and throwing him off balance. Nick knew Dagon wouldn’t let it go so easily, in fact he would probably excessively retaliate… Which of course he did…

Dagon caught him by his shirt’s collar and yanked him backward. Nick felt himself leaving his currently not-so-friendly friend’s chest. Soon he didn’t felt anything under himself as he was flying toward the closest wall… and crashed into it, the impact taking his breath away from him.

His instinct immediately took control and he landed on all fours, snarling at the reptile that was already standing up, a cocky smile on his face. “Come on Nicky,” he taunted. “A wolf couldn’t pierce my hide, what makes you think you could?”

When it came to fighting, Dagon was always right. That was one of the rules Nick had learned a few days after meeting with the reptile, so of course he knew he didn’t stand a chance… but that wouldn’t prevent him from trying.

He dashed forward, trying to take advantage of his smaller size to throw the reptile off balance. Sadly, Dagon was used to fighting smaller mammals and his tail provided him with great balance, as well as one more way to hit others. So when Nick, still on all fours, tried to crawl between the larger predator’s legs, the reptile turned on himself, lifting one foot and using his tail as a counterweight to turn back and face him again.

Before Nick had had the time to try anything, Dagon had already caught him once again by his shirt and threw him back at the exact same wall he had already crashed into. Once again he was back on his feet - and paws - just as fast, but this time Dagon had leaned forward onto all fours as well, showing his flank, the perfect bait for someone who didn’t knew Dagon’s most deadly weapon was his tail…

Nick ran toward his _friend_ once more, knowing how Dagon would react. Of course, his tail came to him slowlier than if he had really meant to kill him - the reptile was just playing after all - so he had plenty of time to jump above it and land on his back. He tugged his arm around the reptile’s neck and clenched as hard as he could.

In this position Dagon could still catch him and try to remove him from his back but to do that he would be forced to dig his claws in his flesh - something he hoped the reptile was still sane enough not to do - to get a correct grab on him.

Dagon didn’t used his claws, instead he stood up, Nick continuing his chokehold, and bashed his back against the nearest wall. The pain made Nick lessen his grip and the reptile was quick to catch his arm, preventing him from choking him again. When he was about to throw him away something neither Nick nor Dagon saw coming happened. Judy jumped and landed a solid kick into Dagon’s stomach.

He tried to backhand slap her but failed when she rolled to her side, avoiding him, which made him bend forward. Nick used this occasion to put his feet on the reptile’s back, his own back against the wall, and pushed with his legs.

Dagon almost fell from his sudden lost of balance but his tail steadied him so instead he took a few steps forward and turned brusquely, countering his momentum and facing them. “You are in trouble…” He said with a frown.

.

.

Nick didn't freak out of course, he knew Dagom would never kill him… Or at least he hoped… Judy stiffened a bit but held her ground, he didn't know what the bunny was made of but she sure was quick to recover.

Dagon casually - except for the horrible ‘I-will-murder-you-and-your-family’ frown - walked toward them, and both parted from each other. Staying too close would only allow him to hit the both of them in the same motion.

He stopped in the middle of them, Nick knew he would target Judy so instead of using a defensive stance, he got ready to jump on the reptile’s back to try to, once again, strangle him… It didn't work the first time but maybe with Judy’s help… And he didn't really had any other choices outside of maybe crippling a limb or two. But what good could it do? Make them pay for some medical treatment? Hell no!

Accordingly to what he had thought, Dagon focussed on Judy. He jumped toward her, his claws extended to catch his prey.

Nick was on this back faster than the reptile could reach the doe, biting his shoulder - despite knowing that it was useless and he wouldn't pierce Dagon’s scales - and trying to strangle him once more.

He felt Dagon being pushed backward and bend a little, quickly glancing before them he saw Judy landing. She had obviously overcome her fear and had decided to land a kick on the reptile's belly. He then saw her flex her knees… And his vision was jerked upward along with Dagon's head and shoulders.

He guessed she must have kicked the reptile's jaw but his ‘friend’ had been through so much worse he knew it wouldn't work. Right on cue, Dagon let go of a chuckle as he reached behind him and, since Nick was closer to his reach - having his jaw locked on the reptile’s shoulder obviously made him very close - the scaled bastard managed to catch his collar and yank him forward.

He felt his back connect with the bunny, bashing her away and then, with a light throw, Dagon sent him flying, too. They both felt near the table but Judy having land before him she was already up, standing between him and the reptile.

‘Is she trying to protect _me_?’ he asked himself, laughing internally. ‘Now that’s a first!’

He stood next to her and noticed how her nose was twitching. ‘Brave little bunny…’ he smiled.

Dagon laughed at the sight and walked toward them, both paws down. He may have look calm but Nick knew it was just a facade, deep down his ‘friend’ was enjoying all this…

“Come on!” the reptile taunted them. “You can do better than that!” Then his eyes went wide and he crouched to avoid a bottle flying right to his head.

Said bottle exploded on the wall, beer splattering and streaming down it. Nick looked behind him to see Judy reeling her arm ready to throw another bottle. He was too late to prevent the next bottle from following the same path as the first. This time however, Dagon caught it mid-air and growled.

“She threw a bottle at me!” he said as if he didn't believed it.

_Oh oh…_

“She threw a bottle of _alcohol_ at _me_!” he clarified, anger filling his voice.

“Dagon calm-”

“Don't fuck with me, _Wilde,_ you know how much this shit cost?!” He was quickly closing the gap between them, eyes locked on the bunny. “This time I'll make sure this _slave_ knows its place!”

The ‘its’ immediately registered in Nick’s head. Dagon wasn't seeing Judy as a mammal anymore, she was an object in the dragon’s mind… And Nick knew how he treated objects that didn't worked how he wanted them to.

He pushed the bunny behind him and snarled. “Don't!” He warned the reptile. But seeing he didn't slowed down, Nick used his last card… He aimed a punch at the dragon’s malehood…

.

.

What he had thought was a stupid idea that would bite his tail later turned into a stupid idea that earned him a good beating… right then… Dagon lifted his knee and pushed his punch away while rotating on himself. He then ‘slapped’ - even in it felt like being hit with a shovel - Nick’s head and made him fall down.

He didn’t see it but he knew Judy must have done something because he heard the sound of bones taking a hit and then saw Dagon take a few steps back… And rush forward to close the distance between them faster, just for Judy to dash between his legs and jump to kick him in the back, making him fall. Nick took this opportunity to grab the first thing his paw reached and yanked it at the dragon’s face.

The said thing appeared to be an - hopefully - empty bottle which exploded when it meet Dagon’s face, making him fall on his side. Out of reflexes or maybe because of the drug in his system, Nick darted the broken bottle at his friend’s face. Even though Dagon had a very sturdy hide, his eyes were still unprotected and in Nick’s mind the Komodo could lose an eye. It was worth it if it could stop him…

Of course it didn't, rather it triggered a “fight or die” mode in Dagon - Nick had always swore it was the default mode on the reptile, but was about to remember why his friend was feared by every mammal he had ever met - which caused him to catch Nick’s paw and almost crush it in his own… Before sending him flying with a bit too much strength against the farmost wall.

The sound of his own body hitting the wall was the last thing he heard, pain clouding his mind and his senses, making the beast inside of him whimper and seek a place to hide… He had been beaten by a stronger foe.

He should have known better than to fight his _friend_ but something inside of him had gone mad when he had seen _his_ bunny inside the dragon’s claws. Something had pushed him to act, to protect what was _his_ … And the drug in his system probably hadn’t helped…

He took what seemed to be forever - and according to his dizzy brain; too soon - to raise his head and look in front of him… The bunny was standing right in front of him, between Dagon and him, her arms wide open as if she was shielding him from the reptile...

Then he heard cries… cries and words he didn’t understand... but that were directed toward the dragon and made him stop. Dagon didn’t move for at least fifty seconds and when Nick’s hearing was back he head his friend say: “As long as you know your place… Cop girl...” before he exited the room, his tail swinging in a dangerous way.

Nick sat up at the same time Dagon’s door’s chamber was slammed violently. He winced at the sound and lightly shook his head to remove the ringing in his ears. Judy was on him immediately, looking at his head and slowly making him turn it… which finished burying his pride in a shallow and unmarked grave…

First he had, quite stupidly, tried to take down a reptile that was almost trice his size - and that had been trained to be a bloody monster - only to be beaten down like a little kit. Then the female HE had tried to protect had done most of the fighting BEFORE protecting HIM…

 

Maybe that explained why he slapped her…

.

Judy POV

.

The growl the monster they were facing warned Judy that the fight - or what must have been a game to him - was over. It was the sound of a beast that was about to kill his prey for fighting back. She saw the fox leave the floor and his back connect with a wall with great force. Her heart flinched when she saw him fail to stand. She was on him before the giant lizard could try anything and shielded him with her body.

“Wait for your turn, _prey_.” He snarled with a frown, his bloody eyes on her.

She spoke without realising that tears were flowing from her eyes, her whole body conflicted between running away and protecting the fox... “Leave him alone, he only acted like that to protect me!”

 _You really think he will stop just like that?_ asked her inner voice.

“Hit me if you have to, but please don’t touch him, ” she added, waiting for the _deserved_ hit… That never came because he turned on himself and left.

“As long as you know your place…” He said before he smiled weirdly and added: “Cop girl…”

She looked at the door he had exited not believing what had just happened, she almost feared he would come back to bite her but when she heard another door being shut she focused back on the fox behind her.

Unconsciously, her training at the ZPD’s academy kicked back in when she saw him sit up and wince in pain. She grabbed his head and started to look at it, searching for blood or any kind of trauma. She was about to ask him some simple questions when she felt something push her face away with great strength… He had slapped her once more…

 _And you’re not about to complain about it?_ asked a voice becoming stronger and stronger in her head.

‘No…’ She answered. ‘I deserve far worse…’

She turned slowly to face the very mammal that had slapped her and lowered her head, patiently waiting for him to say something.

“What the fuck went through you head?” he asked angrily. “You want him to kill you!?”

She slowly shook her head from left to right without saying a thing.

“I have no idea what world you dumb bunnies live in, but here when an animal can kill you with a slap you don't taunt him!”

Once again she didn't replied.

“And in top of that I have to jump in to protect you and end up getting beaten by my friend and YOU take care of me?!” He snarled. “Save your pity, I’m in this state because of you.”

He then proceeded to stand but apparently he was still weak,stumbling back to rest against the wall to stay up. Immediately she stood to help him and this time… he accepted.

.

.

She helped him carry his body to the couch where he sat with a paw on his head, his ears lowered and a frown on his face.

‘He’s in pain because of me…’ she thought.

_Then hurry up and find some ice will you?_

She opened the little refrigerator on top of the fridge - which for her meant that she had to jump on a large sized fridge in order to reach it and opened it from the top… and must have been funny to look at because she heard Nick make a sound somewhere between a laugh and a wince of pain - and found what she was looking for. She took some ice and tossed it inside a paper towels before bringing it back to the fox.

“Sir?” she said, holding the ice bag out.

He grunted a “thanks” before taking and placing it on his head he almost whined when the cold bag met his head and he rested his whole body against the couch.

A noise coming from outside warned her the lizard was breaking something and she feared he would come back.

“Don't worry,” said Nick, “he's just hitting the wall or something. He’s reflecting on his actions… Leave him be.”

She slowly nodded and dared to speak: “Okay boss.” Not knowing how to address him she had chosen what seemed to be the most fitting - possibly because she imagined every ‘mob boss’ liked to be called..  well, ‘boss’ - but seeing his frown she understood she had been mistaken.

“Don't call me boss,” he sighed, “Dagon calling me that is enough…”

“Sir?” she tried.

“Hell no!” he laughed. “I’m far too young to be called sir,” he joked. And for whatever reason his little laugh and the smile that was now on his face calmed her.

“Then how should I call you?” she asked with a little smile herself.

“I think ‘Nick’ will be enough… Keep ‘boss’ for when we're working okay?” he asked with a smile.

“Okay… Nick.” With this the unspoken pact has been signed… She would serve him until her parents’ debt was paid and he would protect her from the reptile.

He didn’t bother to answer instead he grabbed the remote and turned the TV on…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Annnnd… that’s all… yeah I know it’s rather short for what you had to wait but I had to end the chapter here so… sorry? Oh but don’t be so mad at me! at least I’m back right?


End file.
